By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday commenced the week on bearish note in spite of an encouraging third quarter (Q3) 2016 numbers released by Nigeria’s top tier lender, Zenith Bank Plc.
The NSE all-share index (ASI) recorded a marginal loss of 0.08 percent to close at 27,574.95 basis points.
According to InvestmentOne Research, the southward trend in the index was driven by declines in the shares of lender, Union Bank Plc, soap and detergent producer, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc and the shares of pan-African lender, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated; the trio declined by 12.32 points, 9.59 points and 9.08 points respectively; which cancelled out the gains in shares of ZENITHBANK. The lender, beer producer, Nigerian Breweries Plc and cement manufacturer, Lafarge Cement Wapco Plc gained 22.85 points, 11.54 points and 7.14 points apiece.
“Today’s performance in our opinion further points to lack of investors’ confidence in the equities market largely due to the prevailing weak economic environment,” InvestmentOne said
The report affirmed that market turnover strengthened from Friday’s level as investors exchanged over 101 million units of stocks valued at N1.06 billion in 2,256 deals, which represented 43 percent and 62 percent improvement in volume and value of trades. Banking tickers led by ZENITHBANK accounted for 47 percent of total trades.
At the close of the session on the Nigerian equities market, there were 11 gainers and 19 losers recorded, according to data from the NSE. Leading provider of marine, aviation and logistics services Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.04 kobo per share; while food & beverage maker, Cadbury Nigeria Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of N1.25 per share. Consequently, market breadth index (-0.10x) slid into the negative territory.
InvestmentOne reports that sectoral performance also reflected the overall negative sentiment in the market as Oil & Gas, Banking and Consumer Goods indices declined 0.59 percent, 0.25 percent and 0.02 percent each; while the Industrial Goods index was the lone gainer by 0.37 percent.
“Going forward, we expect the ASI to remain volatile till the end of the year as the present fragile macro environment continues to deter investors from equities. Hence, we advise discerning investors to take advantage of the current downtrend to build positions in quality names for a medium to longer term,” the InvestmentOne Report added.
