Nigerian Equity Markets | 23 Sep 2015: Rise ahead of Sallah Holiday…NSE ASI up 0.4%

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The stock market closed the week positive as DANGOTE CEMENT (+0.9%), NESTLE (+2.4%) and FORTE OIL (+3.4%) drove ASI 0.4% higher to close the week at 30,543.17pts, tempering YTD loss to -11.9%. Market capitalization added N43.6bn to close at N10.5tn. Market activity increased as volume traded rose 138.9% to 466.9m units while value traded improved 40.3% to N4.4bn.

All sector indicators drifted northwards, save the Banking sector index (-0.3%) which closed in the red for the third consecutive trading session. The oil & gas index gained the most at the close of trade, rising 1.3% on the back of price appreciation in FORTE OIL (+3.4%). The Industrial Goods index followed with 0.7% appreciation due to bullish bets on DANGOTE CEMENT (+0.9%). The Insurance index rose 0.6% as a result of gains in CONTINSURE (+4.3%) and NEM (+4.5%). The Consumer Goods index inched up 1bps.

Market breadth (advancers/decliners ratio) settled at 0.9x as 22 stocks advanced while 24 stocks declined. Top gainers were UAC-PROP (+5.0%), STANBIC (+5.0%) and VONO (+4.9%). Top losers were HONYFLOUR (-5.3%), VITAFOAM (-5.0%) and MORISON (-4.9%). We observed investors’ apathy for banking tickers despite MPC’s decision to reduce CRR to 25.0%.  However, we believe today’s positive close was a reflection of continuous improvement in investors’ sentiment as the month of September draws to a close ahead of the expected Cabinet announcement. We expect the market to further strengthen in the week ahead on the possibility of a cheery news from the presidency before the end of the month.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team