February 20, 2017/InvestmentOne Research
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- The equities market closed the first trading session of the week positive, gaining +0.34% to end at 25,249.49pts. However, we highlight that market breadth index, a measure of investor sentiment closed negative at -0.09x as 19 stocks declined, against 10 stocks that gained..
- The market’s performance today was largely driven by the gains in NB (+111pts) in addition to PZ (+14pts) which combined to more than offset the declines in FBNH (14pts) and FO (-11pts).Furthermore, PZ (+9.04%) was the market’s best performer while FO (-5.02%) led the losers’ chart.
- The gains in NB and PZ also drove the Consumer Goods sector up +2.16% today while the Oil & Gas (-0.63%) and Banking (-0.20%) sectors closed negative.
- Market activity was down significantly today as investors exchanged just 110m units of shares in 2,160 deals worth N0.99bn. This represents a -77% and -50% decline in total value and total volume respectively, compared to last Friday. UCAP (-0.52%) was the most actively traded stock with 16.7m units of shares, accounting for 15.18% of total volume.
- While the NSE-ASI gained today, we highlight there remains a possibility for profit taking given the lack of positive news flow to support the momentum. As a result, we expect the market to be volatile going forward. This said, we however advise investors to lengthen their horizon and gradually build position in quality names for a medium to long term horizon.
