Nigeria Market Watch | May 28th 2015: Nigerian Equities Market today reversed the 2-day bullish trend

Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa):- The Nigerian Equities Market today reversed the 2-day bullish trend as the All Share Index (ASI) shed 0.1% to close the week at 34,310.37 points. Likewise, market capitalization declined N44.2bn to settle at N11.7tn. Today’s decline was largely driven by depreciation in ZENITH (-2.6%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.3%) and FORTE OIL (-4.9%). Activity level measured by total volume and value traded improved as volume appreciated 129.6% to 711.2m units while value increased 220.9%.

The NSE sector performance was mixed. The Banking Index led sector decliners with 0.6% as ZENITH (-2.6%) and GTBANK (+0.5%) sustained losses. Trailing was the Consumer Goods Index, which shed 0.2% as a result of decline in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.3%) and NESTLE (-1.2%). The Industrial Goods index posted positive return (+0.5%) on the back of gains in WAPCO (+1.0%). The Oil & Gas and Insurance indices both increased (+0.1%) at the close of market.

Market breadth as measured by the ratio of advancers to decliners was positive at (1.1x) today as 30 counters advanced in contrast to 27 decliners. Top on the gainers’ table today were PRESCO (+10.0%), TOTAL (+9.4%) and VONO (+5.0%) while the highest losing stocks were FORTE OIL (-4.9%), NEIMETH (-4.8%) and NEM (-4.7%). The performance in the equity market could be associated with profit taking by short term investors. We expect the market to experience fresh momentum in trading sessions ahead post May 29, 2015 inauguration.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team.