October 3, 2017/InvestmentOne Research

ASI closed negative, falling by -0.38%

Furthermore, market breadth index ended in the red as 18 stocks gained against 22 that declined.

CILEASING (+9.82%) topped the gainers’ chart against UNITYBNK (-5.00%) which was the worst performer.

Despite FCMB being the most actively traded stock with c.371m units of shares traded, GUARANTY topped the value chart with N1.34bn worth of shares.

Sector Performance  

·         NSE Banking Index: Gains in Tier 1 names; ZENITHBANK (+2.61%), FBNH (+2.30%) and UBA (+1.74%) drove the index up +0.63%

·         NSE Consumer Goods Index: Sell-off on PZ (-6.81%), NB (-1.82%), NESTLE (-0.42%) contributed to the negative close (-0.86%)

·         NSE Industrial Index: The buy interest in WAPCO (+2.64%) led the sector up +0.31% despite the declines in DANGCEM (-1.40%)

·         NSE Oil & Gas Index: Closed down -0.25% due to the sell pressures on FO (-3.61%), OANDO (-0.51%) and SEPLAT (-0.02%), which outweighed the gains in TOTAL (+1.73%)

Earnings Release

NIL

Market Insight

The Nigerian equities market closed the first trading session of the week, month and quarter on a negative note while there was a significant improvement in market turnover. We highlight that activity levels were skewed towards the Banking sector, which accounted for c. 87% of total volume and 57% of total value. Nonetheless, we believe the market’s direction going forward may be determined by investors positioning ahead of Q3 2017 earnings season. With this said, we believe the recent sell-off represents an entry opportunity in our recommended quality names.

TOP PICKS: ACCESS, DANGCEM, GUARANTY, NB, NESTLE, UBA & ZENITH BANK