NSE: Equities market halts gaining streak, index down 0.3%

Equities Market Halts Gaining Streak …NSE ASI down 0.3%
After 3 consecutive trading days of appreciation, the Equities market reversed trend today as the All Share Index lost 0.3% on account of sell pressure on WAPCO (-5.0%), GUARANTY(-1.5%) and ZENITH (-1.3%), thus expanding YTD loss to -5.0%. Accordingly, investors lost N25.5bn as market capitalization trimmed to N9.4tn. However, activity improved as volume and value traded strengthened 48.1% and 73.9% to settle at 219.9m units and N1.9bn respectively.

Mixed Performance across Sectors
Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 sectors advanced while 2 declined. The Insurance index appreciated the most (+1.1%) at the end of today’s trading session on buy sentiment in CONTINSURE (+7.9%) and CUSTODYINS (+4.6%) while the Oil & Gas index added 0.5% on account of price appreciation in TOTAL (+4.6%). Similarly, advances in PZ (+6.1%) and NESTLE (+0.5%) also pushed the Consumer Goods index 0.1% higher. On the Contrary, the Industrial Goods index emerged the top declining sector, losing 1.9% as investors took profit in WAPCO (-5.0%) while the Banking index slid 0.9% against the backdrop of price depreciation in GUARANTY (-1.5%) and ZENITH (-1.3%).

Market Breadth Weakens
Investor sentiment weakened today as market breadth stood at 0.6x (from 2.2x on Friday) after 16 stocks advanced against 28 declining stocks. The best performing stocks were LEARNAFRCA (+9.4%), DANGFLOUR (+8.8%) and AIICO (+8.6%) while TRANSCORP(-9.0%) WAPCO (-5.0%) and OANDO (-5.0%) declined the most. Today’s performance can be attributed to investors’ reactions to some 9M: 2016 Corporate scorecards as well as profit taking. We believe Earnings releases will continue to drive market performance in the interim, hence we urge caution on the part of investors with short term investment horizon.