The Nigerian stock market closed negative today as the All Share Index (ASI) fell 0.5 per cent to settle at 23,832.03pts. This marked a halt in the 4-day gaining streak noticed on the bourse. The negative close today was on the back of further profit-taking in NESTLE (-2.2%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.1%) and GUARANTY (-1.8%). Equally, market capitalisation declined N45.2billion to N8.2trillion. Activity level also softened today as volume and value traded dipped 33.6 per cent and 21.9 per cent to 142.9million units and N1.6billion respectively.
Oil & Gas Sector Emerges Lone Gainer as SEPLAT (+3.9%) and OANDO (+3.4%) closed among top gainers, the Oil & Gas index appreciated 0.8 per cent to end the day as the lone gainer while other sector indices closed in red. Consequent on losses in NESTLE (-2.2%) and GUARANTY (-1.8%), the Consumer Goods and Banking indices shed 1.0% a piece. Similarly, the Insurance index ended the day in the red with 0.9% as MANSARD and AIICO depreciated -3.4% and -1.2% respectively. With a marginal 8bps drop, the Industrial Goods index declined the least.
Market Sentiments Return Negative
Investor sentiments waned today as market breadth – measured by advancers/decliners ratio – closed at 0.4x as 29 stocks gained while 14 declined. Top gainers were CADBURY (+9.2%), AGLEVENT (+5.0%) and SEPLAT (+3.9%) while the highest losers were CAVERTON (-8.5%), GLAXOSMITH (-5.0%) and UNILEVER (-5.0%). Given that gains on the bourse have been majorly on bargain hunting, the loss recorded today as well as the weak sentiments indicate profit-taking activities. The decision of the MPC to leave all rates unchanged and not make a call on the Naira could further dampen investors’ appetite in the equity market and spur sell offs in the trading session ahead. We advise short-term investors to thread with caution while longer term investors can look beyond the near term risk to take advantage of the cheap market valuations.
Market Cap (N’bn) 8,196.3
Market Cap (US$’bn) 41.2
NSE All-Share Index 23,832.03
Daily Performance % (0.5)
1 Week Performance % 6.1
YTD Performance % (16.8)
Daily Volume (Million) 142.9
Daily Value (N’bn) 1.6
Daily Value (US$’m) 8.3
