April 19, 2018/InvestmentOne Report
The Nigerian equities market closed up today as NSE-ASI gained +0.25%.
However, market breadth index ended negative with 18 stocks gaining against 24 stocks that declined.
OANDO (+6.08%) was the top gainer today while FIRSTALUM (-7.55%) had the worst performance.
FCMB (-4.00%) was the most actively traded with 204million units of shares worth N491million.
Sector Performance
NSE Industrial Index: Increased by 0.76%, following the gains in DANGCEM (+1.41%) and WAPCO (+0.44%).
NSE Oil & Gas Index: Shed 0.61%, due to the losses in MOBIL (-4.74%) and CAPOIL (-2.78%).
NSE Consumer Goods Index: Lost 0.26%, on the back of the sell-off in GLAXOSMITH (-2.78%), INTBREW (-1.94%), DANGSUGAR (-0.23%), and NB(-0.16%).
NSE Banking Index: Fell marginally by 0.13%, largely driven by the decline in FCMB (-4.00%), DIAMONDBNK (-2.01%), SKYEBANK (-0.02%) and STERLNBANK (-0.01%).
Earnings Release
Zenith Bank released its Q1 2018 results which showed a 22.17% y/y and 21.55% y/y improvement in Profit Before Tax and Profit After Tax to N54.00billion and N47.08billion respectively.
Unilever Nigeria Plc. released its Q1 2018 results which showed a 79.82% y/y and 81.25% y/y increment in Profit Before Tax and Profit After Tax to N3.92billion and N2.90billion respectively.
Market Insight
The Nigerian equities market closed up today following the gain in the Industrial sector. Going forward, we expect the market to trade sideways in the absence of positive news flow. With this said, we highlight the potential for the market to gain as investors reinvest dividend income.
TOP PICKS: ACCESS, DANGCEM, GUARANTY, NB, NESTLE, UBA & ZENITHBANK
