March 28, 2017/InvestmentOne Research
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- The Nigerian bourse reversed the positive start to the week, as the All share Index declined by -0.31% dragged largely by sell-off in Cement tickers. The index YTD return settled at -5.46% while market capitalisation shed c.N27bn to close at N8.79trillion.
- Today’s performance was driven by sell pressure on DANGCEM (-148.84pts), ETI (-24.04pts) and WAPCO (-15.32pts) which offsets the gain in SEPLAT (+60.40pts), GUARANTY (+38.56pts) and ZENITHBANK (+18.28pts).
- Market sentiment however turns positive as 22 stocks led by SEPLAT advanced compared to 14 losers led by LAWUNION (-5.00%). Hence, market breadth index closed at +0.08x
- Activity level weakened compared to previous session as investors exchanged over 191m units of stocks worth c.N2.02bn. This represents -66% and -16% decline in both volume and value traded. Banking sector tickers led the activity chart accounting for 67% of total volume of trades, supported by bulk trades in the likes of DIAMONDBANK, UBA and FBNH.
- The Oil & Gas (+2.69%), Banking (+0.65%) and Consumer (+0.19%) trackers closed in the green while decline in WAPCO (-2.63%) and DANGCEM (-1.82%) drove the industrial tracker down by -2.69%.
- In the near term, we expect the ASI to remain volatile given investors’ attraction to decent return in the Fixed Income space amidst fragile macro situation. That said, we however see likelihood of a shift in the FX policy regime as a potential catalyst for a rebound in equities’ performance. Hence, we advise investors to tread with caution while seeking decent entry point to build position in quality names over an extended investment horizon.
