Equities Market Extends Bearish Streak, ASI Sheds 0.5%

Today, the local bourse posted a bearish performance as sell-offs in SEPLAT (-6.9%), NESTLE (-2.0%) and STANBIC (-2.5%) dragged the All Share Index (ASI) lower by 0.5% to 26,866.41 points. YTD loss worsened to -14.5% while market capitalization declined by N58.9bn to N13.1tn. However, activity level rose as volume and value traded advanced by 9.2% and 45.6% to 151.7m units and N1.5bn respectively. The most active stocks by volume were FCMB (55.7m units), TRANSCORP (17.2m units) and FBNH (14.4m units) while NESTLE (N486.1m), DANGCEM (N270.0m) and GUARANTY (N172.1m) led by value.

Bearish Sector Performance
Sector performance was bearish as only the Industrial Goods index (+0.2%) ended in the green territory owing to price appreciation in CCNN (+2.7%) and CUTIX (+2.6%). The Oil & Gas index led the laggards, declining 4.2% due to price depreciation in SEPLAT (-6.9%) and OANDO (-2.7%). Trailing, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices lost 1.2% and 0.2% respectively following sell pressures in NESTLE (-2.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.7%) and MANSARD (-1.8%). Losses in STANBIC (-2.5%) and ACCESS (-1.4%) dragged the Banking index down by 0.1%. Finally, the AFR-ICT index closed flat.

Investor Sentiment Strengthens
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) inched up to 1.1x from 0.6x recorded previously as 17 tickers gained against 16 losers. The top gainers were COURTVILLE (+10.0%), AFRIPRUD (+9.9%) and ABCTRANS (+8.8%) while CORNEST (-10.0%), SEPLAT (-6.8%) and CADBURY (-5.7%) were the top losers. We expect the market to remain bearish as the broader investor sentiment remains weak.