August 14, 2018

By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Sentiments remained bearish in the Nigerian equities market on Tuesday, as the all-share index (ASI) dropped further by 0.31 percent to 35,288.23 points, amidst continued selloffs.

Cordros reports that accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses increased to -4.67 percent and -7.44 percent respectively.

The report says sell pressure in the shares of re-insurer, Continental Reinsurance Plc and tier one lender, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc both declined -9.47 percent and -1.42 percent each, while Eterna Plc and Berger Paints Plc both dropped -9.72 percent and -9.43 percent respectively; which led to the respective losses in the Insurance and Banking indices by -2.19 percent and -1.05 percent apiece, while the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices declined by -0.79 percent and -0.03 percent apiece.

On the positive side, Cordros reports that returns in the Consumer Goods index with a gain of +0.10 percent remained positive, owing to gains in the shares of soap and detergent producer, Unilever Nigeria Plc with a gain of +0.76 percent.

The update says market breadth remained negative, with a wider margin posting 33 losers and 13 gainers. ABC Transport Plc led the losers chart with a loss of -10.00 percent and insurer, Mutual Benefit Assurance Plc emerged the topmost gainer with a gain of +10.00 percent.

Total volume of trades inched up by 2.54 percent to 164.51 million units, valued at N1.61 billion (-27.19 percent), and exchanged in 3,448 deals. 

“In our view, the continued selloffs call for cautious trading among investors, amidst absence of a near-term one-off positive catalyst in the short to medium term, as well as concerns in the political space, ahead of the 2019 elections. Negative sentiments towards emerging markets, following the US-Turkey trade spat (which led to a significant decline in the Lira), also poses a threat to domestic risky assets,” the Cordros update affirmed.

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