Equities Continue Slide With N101b Loss

• Equities Continue Slide With N101b Loss

Nigerian equities continued on the downside yesterday as investors lost N101 billion to capital depreciation. Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) declined by an average of 0.76 per cent, depressing further the negative average year-to-date return to -4.64 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the main index for the equities market, dropped by 278.13 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.76 per cent to close at 36,470.05 points as against its opening index of 36,748.18 points. Total market capitalisation of quoted equities declined correspondingly by N101 billion to close at N13.211 trillion compared with its opening value of N13.312 trillion.

With 27 losers to 20 gainers, the market appeared to show increased bargain-hunting despite the negative overall market position. Most sectoral indices closed positive. The NSE Oil & Gas Index rose by 1.2 per cent. The NSE Banking Index and NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.2 per cent each while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat. However, the NSE Consumer Goods Index declined by 2.5 per cent.

Nestle Nigeria led the losers with a drop of N84.70 to close at N1,442.30. Nigerian Breweries followed with a loss of N2.40 to close at N105.60. International Breweries lost N1.80 to close at N39.20. Zenith bank dropped by N1 to close at N22.95 while UAC of Nigeria declined by 75 kobo to close at N13.25 per share.

On the positive side, Guaranty Trust Bank led the gainers with a gain of N1.45 to close at N38. Dangote Sugar Refinery followed with a gain of N1.20 to close at N19.50. Oando rose by 45 kobo to close at N5.20. Eterna added 40 kobo to close at N6.90 while NASCON Allied Industries gathered 25 kobo to close at N20.25 per share.

Total turnover stood at 296.59 million shares valued at N4.86 billion in 3,684 deals. Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 78.36 million shares valued at N2.98 billion. Med-View Airline followed with 50 million shares worth N102.25 million while Zenith Bank placed third with 26.51 million shares valued at N608.97 million.

Analysts at Cordros Capital noted that continued sell-offs and the absence of a near term one-off positive catalyst continues to dampen the outlook for equities in the short-to-medium term.

“However, strengthened macro-economic fundamentals remain supportive of gains in the long term,” Cordros Capital stated.

“We maintain that the current sentiment will persist tomorrow. Looking ahead, position taking in fundamentally sound stock remains the only bullish trigger,” SCM Capital stated.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities however noted that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) yesterday further fell to 27.5 points below the oversold benchmark, thus cautious optimism on the possibility of a rebound over the near term, buoyed by positive first half 2018 earnings results.