Nigeria Equity Watch | 27 Aug 2015 : Nigerian Equities has a Break from 3-day Decline …NSE ASI up 30bps

Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa) — The Nigerian equities market breathes a sigh of relief today after 3 days of consecutive decline. The positive close was on the back of renewed interest in GUARANTY (+3.5%), FBN HOLDINGS (+3.3%), MOBIL (+3.1%) and DANGOTE CEMENT (+0.5%). Consequently, the NSE All Share Index (ASI) rose 0.3% to 28,221.75pts. Likewise, market capitalization increased N28.9bn to N9.7tn. Market activity however weakened as volume and value traded both contracted 31.2% to 332.9m units and 50.1% to N2.5bn respectively.

Some sectors closed positive at the end of today’s trading session. The Banking index improved 0.8% as gains were recorded in GUARANTY (+3.5%) and FBN HOLDINGS (+3.3%). Also, optimism on DANGOTE CEMENT (+0.5%) appears to have driven the Industrial index up 0.1% while the Insurance index gained 8bps. On the flip side, the Consumer goods index declined 0.4% at the close of trade owing to huge depreciations in FLOURMILL (-9.7%) and PZ (-9.7%). OANDO (-1.7%) and ETERNA (-4.6%) sustained losses, leading the Oil & Gas index on a 0.3% slide.

The market breadth (advancers/decliners ratio) rose to 0.6x from 0.1x in the prior session as 20 stocks advanced while 31 others declined. Top gainers were SKYEBANK (+9.8%), VITAFOAM (+7.0%) and GUINNESS (+5.0%) whereas, top losers were FLOURMILL (-9.7%), PZ (-9.7%) and HONYFLOUR (-9.2%). The change in the market mood today can be attributed to renewed optimism in the some largely capitalized stocks trading at attractive prices. We acknowledge that this swing in the ASI is largely driven by bargain hunting, hence we implore investors to continue to take position on value stocks with sound fundamentals.