Nigerian Equity Markets | 02 Oct 2015: Nigerian Equities Market Records 2.0% Decline Post-Independence Day Celebration

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The All Share Index (ASI) dipped 2.0% on the first trading day of the month to 30,588.41pts as a result of drags from bellwether stocks  – DANGOTE CEMENT (-5.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-4.8%), NESTLE (-4.6%) and ZENITH (-2.1%). Thus YTD and W-o-W returns were brought to -11.7% and +0.1% in that order. Market capitalization sank to N10.5tn from N10.7tn the previous day. Similarly market activity decreased as volume and value traded reduced 34.1% to 275.0m units and 40.3% to 3.1% respectively.

Against the backdrop of improved sentiments on banking stocks such as ETI (+3.0%), STANBIC (+2.3%) and UBN (+4.2%), the Banking index gained 0.1% at the end of the trading session. The Insurance index rose 0.8% as a result of price appreciation in MANSARD (+3.5%) and AIICO (+1.2%). Also, the Oil & Gas index advanced 2.4% due to gains in FORTE OIL (+4.8%) and TOTAL (+3.3%). Closing in the woes of bearish sentiment was the Consumer Goods index (-3.2%) as NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-4.8%) and NESTLE (-4.6%) recorded price declines. Likewise, the Industrial Goods index dipped 2.4% due to negative performance in DANGOTE CEMENT (-5.0%).

Market breadth improved to 1.3x as 22 counters advanced while 17 had depreciated at the close of trade. Top gainers were HONEYFLOUR (+8.2%), FORTE OIL (+4.8%), CUTIX (+4.4%) while top losers were TRANSEXPR (+7.4%), DANGOTE CEMENT (-5.0%) and NEIMETH (-4.9%). We believe that the predominantly bearish performance, albeit the improved sentiment, in today’s session can be linked to profit-taking by investors’ and anxiety concerning economic policy pronouncements as the President’s cabinet list is to be unveiled next week. We continue to see significant upside potential in the Nigerian market based on the current market valuation.

 Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team