Nigeria Equity Watch | 26 Aug 2015 : Nigerian Equities Market Continues to Bleed …NSE ASI down 2.3%

Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa) —The bears continue to dominate the Nigeria Bourse. Hence, the All Share Index dipped 2.3% to 28,137.65pts. Today’s decline was on the back of further losses sustained in DANGOTE CEMENT (-2.3%), NESTLE (-5.0%) and GUARANTY (-3.4%). Investors lost N230.0bn in paring market capitalization to N9.7tn. Market activity was mixed as volume traded lessened 19.9% to 483.7m units while value increased 74.3% to N5.1bn.

Sector performance also reflected the overall market mood with the Consumer Goods index declining the highest loss of 2.7%. This was against the backdrop of depreciation in NESTLE (-5.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.8%) and PZ (-9.7%). The Industrial Goods index followed by a 2.6% drop on losses recorded in DANGOTE CEMENT (-2.3%) and WAPCO (-3.0%). Also, the Banking index fell 2.2% on the back of declines in GUARANTY (-3.4%), FBN HOLDINGS (-7.8%) and ZENITH (-1.8%). The Oil & Gas index dipped 1.6% due to bearish sentiments on OANDO (-5.0%), MOBIL (-4.3%) and TOTAL (-3.4%). The Insurance index waned 0.7% on account of 4.7% loss in both CONTINSURE and NEM.

Market breadth (advancers/decliners ratio) weakened to 0.1x from 0.2x yesterday as sentiment on equities further wanes. DANGSUGAR (+5.0%), WEMABANK (+3.4%) and COSTAIN (+3.4%) led the 6 advancing stocks while PZ (-9.7%), NNFM (-9.7%) and FBN HOLDINGS (-7.8%) championed the 47 stock market decliners at the close of trade. With unrelenting weakening of sentiment on equities, we suggest that risk averse investors should consider fixed income securities. However, investors with higher risk appetite can take advantage of attractive prices in tickers with sound fundamentals.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team