Analysts see no near term rebound in equities as benchmark index slumps 1.6% w-o-w

THE LIKELIHOOD OF A RE BOUND at the equities market remains slim as analysts are projecting continued sell pressures on stocks following the bearish performance recorded last week.

Analysts at Afrinvest in their weekly equity market report to investors noted, “we expect sell pressures to persist over the near-term given the general negative mood in the market, and lack of drivers to sway the market to the positive region.”

A review of last week’s activities at the market showed the local bourse posted a bearish performance as profit taking on DANGCEM (-3.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.1%), GUARANTY (-4.0%), ZENITH (-4.3%) and WAPCO (-10.5%) dragged the ASI down by 1.6 percent weekon-week to 34,848.45 points.

The year-to-date losses consequently worsened to -8.9 percent, pegging the market capitalization at N12.7 trillion.

Activity level in the market was mixed as the average volume traded declined 5.3 percent to 306.0 million units, while the average value traded increased by 34.5% to N4.6 billion.

The top traded stocks by volume for the week were NEM (234.0m units), UBA (108.9m units) and HMARKINS (100.8m units) while the top traded by value were STANBIC (N3.7bn), GUARANTY (N1.4bn) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N1.2bn).

At the start of the week, profit-taking on DANGCEM pulled the market down by 32 basis points, however, by Tuesday, bargain hunting ac- tivities on GUARANTY, ACCESS and UBA resulted in the market upturning the previous day’s loss by gaining 53 basis points.

Over the last trading days in the week, the market was pressured once more as investors sold off positions in FBNH, DANGCEM, NIGERIAN BREWERIES, and ZENITH, leading to a cumulative loss of 189 basis points.

Performances across sec- tors were bearish, as 3 of 5 sectoral indices closed negative week-on-week.

The industrial goods sector led decliners after losing 4.7 percent week-on-week following profit taking in DANGCEM (-3.0%) and WAPCO (-10.5%).

Similarly, the banking index shed 1.5 percent last week on the back of sell-offs in GUARANTY (-4.0%), ZENITH (-4.3%) and FBNH (-8.8%), while per- sistent sell pressures in CONTINSURE (-2.1%), STDINSURE (-9.5%) and SOVRENINS (-4.0%) dragged the insurance index -0.1 percent last week.

On the flipside, the oil & gas and consumer goods indices rose 1.0 percent and 0.3 percent respectively following investors’ interest in TOTAL (+6.8%), OANDO (+6.0%), DANGSUGAR (+7.1%) and GUINNESS (+5.6%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advancers/decliners ratio) strengthened to 1.0x from 0.3x in the prior week, as 35 stocks advanced against 34 stocks that declined.

The top outperforming stocks for the week are PORTLAND (+20.5%), AIICO (+17.1%) and PZ (+14.9%), while the laggards were IKEJAHOTEL (-18.6%), FIRSTALUM (-15.0%) and GLAXOSMITH (-14.4%).