Nigerian stocks rebound on bargain hunting in bellwethers, benchmark index up 0.11%

Nigerian stocks Thursday rebounded on bargain hunting in bellwethers especially STANBIC (+4.8%), NESTLE (+0.7%) and FLOURMILLS (+7.6%), which drove the All Share Index (ASI) up by 0.11 percent to 32,417.82 points.

Consequently year-to-date (YTD) loss moderated to -15.2 percent just as market capitalisation increased to N11.8 trillion. Also, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded improved 9.7 percent and 47.7 percent to 147.5 million units and N2.9 billion respectively.

The top traded stocks by volume were GUARANTY (48.7m), FIDELITY (13.9m), and FCMB (11.1m) while the top traded stocks by value were GUARANTY (N1.8bn), NESTLE (N306.4m) and STANBIC (N188.7m).

Performance across sectors under our coverage was bearish as four of five sectors declined. The insurance index reversed Wednesday’s gains to emerge the leading loser, falling 0.9 percent, as investors sold off positions in CONTINSURE (-9.4%).

In a similar manner, the banking and oil & gas indices lost 0.6 percent apiece as a result of sustained sell pressures in GUARANTY (-1.1%), UBA (-1.8%), FORTE (8.4%) and OANDO (-1.0%). The industrial goods index followed, down marginally following losses in CUTIX (-3.8%).

On the flipside, the consumer goods index, the day’s sole gainer, appreciated 0.6 percent following buying interest in NESTLE (+0.7%) and FLOURMILLS (+7.6%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.9x from 1.0x recorded previously as prices of 15 stocks gained compared with 19 losers.

Outperforming stocks on the day were  NIGERINS (+10.0%), PRESTIGE (+8.3%) and FLOURMILL (+7.6%) while MCNICHOLS (-9.7%), TRANSCOHOT (-9.6%) and LAWUNION (-8.8%) led decliners.

Despite the positive performance analysts still predict a negative close for the week on renewed sell pressures on banking bellwethers on the day.