Nigerian Equity Markets | 04 Nov 2015: OANDO and STANBIC Top Gainers’ Chart… NSE ASI Dips 7bps

Lagos, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — Loss in the broader index continued today, although moderated relative to previous sessions. Thus, the NSE-ASI closed 7bps lower, settling at 29,032.44ptspts. The fall in the index was against losses recorded in UNILEVER (-5.0%), NESTLE (-0.9%) and MOBIL (-9.8%). Equally, market capitalization contracted N7.0bn to N10.0tn. After investors exchanged 181.6m units of shares worth N2.1bn during trade today, aggregate volume and value rose 8.9% and 82.8% respectively.

Sector indices mirrored the benchmark index recording marginal losses save for the Oil and Gas index which added 3bps. This was on account of the bargain hunting activities in OANDO (+7.2%) for the second consecutive day. Conversely, the Consumer Goods index declined the most, down 0.6% against depreciations in the sector’s bellwethers – UNILEVER (-5.0%) and NESTLE (-0.9%). The Insurance index followed with 0.1% as AIICO fell 3.3%. Also, the Banking and Industrial Goods indices were marginally down with 3bps and 1bps for respectively.

Investor sentiments remained negative but strengthened as market breadth improved from 0.5x yesterday to 0.7x. 18 tickers advanced relative to 27 decliners. As against huge sell pressure on OANDO and STANBIC observed last week, both stocks topped the gainers’ chart today with 7.2% and 5.0% respectively while MOBIL (-9.8%), FIDSON (-9.7%) and CUTIX (-5.0%) led the laggards. While we note that the earnings’ season is thinning, together with the moderation in losses, we expect the market to trade sideways in the session ahead.

Source: Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited Research Team