The Nigerian equities market was unable to sustain the bullish trend from the previous week as the All Share Index (ASI) declined 7bps to close at 27,839.93 points while YTD loss settled at 2.8%. Consequently, market capitalization depreciated by N6.4bn to close at N9.6tn. Performance was dragged by declines in Consumer Goods stocks such as PZ (-4.9%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.1%) and NESTLE (-0.1%). However, activity level surged as volume and value traded improved 43.4% and 37.2% to settle at 328.2m units and N2.9bn respectively.
Consumer Goods Falls 1.0%
All sector indices closed in green save for the Consumer Goods index which fell 1.0% on account of sell pressure in PZ (-4.9%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-1.1%) and NESTLE (-0.1%). The Banking index advanced the most, up 3bps on the back of improved buy interest in GUARANTY (+0.2%) and ZENITH (+0.2%). The Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices rose 0.2% apiece, driven by gains in WAPCO (+0.5%), CONOIL (+10.2%) and TOTAL (+5.0%). Similarly, the Insurance index appreciated 0.2%.
CONOIL Tops Gainers’ Chart for the 6th Consecutive Trading Session
Sentiment waned as reflected in the market breadth which declined marginally to 1.5x (from 1.6x) as 27 stocks appreciated against 18 decliners. Oil & Gas stocks such as CONOIL (+10.2%), TOTAL (+5.0%) and MRS (+5.0%) topped the list of best performing stocks while 7UP (-5.0%), FIDSON (-5.0%) and PZ (-4.9%) were the worst performers. Today’s performance may be linked to profit taking after the market had sustained uptrend for six consecutive sessions. We expect performance for rest of the week to be broadly determined by the outcome of the ongoing Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
