Sentiment Bearish as Nestle Drags Index Lower in Nigerian Equity Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Sentiment was bearish today on the Nigerian Bourse as the All Share Index shed 0.2% to close at 26,330.39 points consequent on price declines in large cap stocks such as NESTLE (-2.4%), FORTE(-9.2%) and ETI (-3.0%). Accordingly, investors lost N19.1bn as market capitalization settled at N9.1tn. However, market activity was mixed as volume traded waned 9.2% to 179.3m units while value traded surged 42.4% to close at N1.5bn.

Banking Sector Emerges Lone Gainer
Performance across sectors was broadly bearish as all indices under our coverage closed in the red save for the Banking index (+0.9%) which rose on account of gains in ZENITH (+2.0%) and UBA(+4.9%). On the contrary, the Oil & Gas Index topped the sector losers – down 1.6% – on the back of sell pressures on FORTE (-9.2%) and CONOIL (-2.6%) while the Consumer Goods index followed, declining 0.9% as a result of losses in NESTLE (-2.4%) and PZ (-4.9%). Similarly, the Insurance index dipped 3bps due to a decline in market size of NEM (-3.3%) while negative sentiment towards CCNN (-2.4%) weighed on the Industrial Goods index which dropped 2bps.

Investor Sentiment Remains Unchanged
Market breadth stayed flat at 0.6x (from 0.6x on Wednesday). Thus, investor sentiment remained unchanged today as 13 stocks advanced against 23 which declined. The best performing stocks today were LIVESTOCK (+4.9%), UBA (+4.9%) and CAPHOTEL (+4.9%) while NASCON (-9.7%), FORTE(-9.2%) and FIDSON (-8.3%) were the worst performers. The weak level of sentiment amidst low trading volumes suggests the market will trade soft in subsequent sessions