Nigeria bourse continues bearish run, investor sentiment wanes

By Charles Abuede

• All Share Index dips 0.6 per cent on Tuesday
• Traded volume 206m; traded value N2.5 billion

Activities on The Nigerian Stock Exchange continued their bearish outcome for the second trading session of the week as sell-offs in DANGCEM (-4.1%), ACCESS (-0.8%) and MANSARD (-8.2%) dragged the All-Share Index down 58 basis points to close at 24,883.70 points. As a result market capitalisation fell by N75.1 billion to N13.0 trillion while the year to date loss settled at -7.3 per cent, and the week to date performance followed the same trend on the curve to settle at a negative 0.6 per cent.

Analysts at Afrinvest Research say, however, that they are expectant of a mixed performance in subsequent trading sessions during the week as low stock prices present bargain hunting opportunities.

Activity level on the local bourse improved as the volume and value traded appreciated 17.5 per cent and 73.6 per cent to 206.0 million units and N2.5 billion ($6.4 million) respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were ACCESS (29.2 million units), FIDELITY (27.8 million units) and GUARANTY (25.3 million units) while GUARANTY (N625.6 million), DANGCEM (N368.5 million) and ZENITH (N257.8 million) led by value.

Sector performance mixed

Performance across sectors was mixed as three indices gained, two lost, while the AFR-ICT index closed flat. The Banking and Consumer Goods indices advanced 0.5 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively due to buying interest in GUARANTY (+1.0%), ETI (+2.5%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+6.3%) and CADBURY (+6.8%).

Also, the Oil & Gas index gained 0.3 per cent following price accretion in ARDOVA (+4.9%). Meanwhile, losses in MANSARD (-8.2%), CHIPLC (-9.8%), DANGCEM (-4.1%) and WAPCO (-0.4%) led to a 2.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent decline in the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices respectively.

Investor sentiment wanes

Investor sentiment in the local bourse, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) waned to 0.9x from the 1.6x recorded previously as 16 stocks gained against the 17 decliners. The top gainers were CADBURY (+6.8%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (+6.3%) and MBENEFIT (+5.0%) while PRESTIGE (-10.0%), IKEJAHOTEL (-9.8%) and CHIPLC (-9.8%) lost the most.