Nigerian stocks slide 0.2% as big cap stocks record losses

Nigeria’s stock market All Share Index (ASI) extended losses to a second consecutive session ending Thursday 0.2 percent lower at 30,568.05 points, on share price depreciation in Seplat (-9.8%), Stanbic (-1.0%) and Nestle (-0.3%).

Market capitalisation thus declined by N27.1 billion to N11.2 trillion while year-to-date loss weakened to -20.1 percent. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded dipped by 21.5 percent to 193.3 million units while value traded remained flat at N3.7 billion.

FBN Holdings (25.3m units), Access Bank  (24.1m units) and Fidelity Bank (18.7m units) emerge the top traded stocks by volume while Nestle (N1.1bn), Guaranty Trust Bank (N552.6m) and Nigerian Breweries (N442.0m) were the top traded stocks by value.

Across sectors, performance was mixed, albeit positively skewed, as 3 of 5 major indices  advanced. The insurance index (+2.5%) advanced the most, recovering from losses recorded Wednesday following gains in Axa Mansard (+10.0%), Continental Re-insurance (+0.6%) and Niger Insurance (+5.0%).

Similarly, the banking index trended northwards, up 0.4 percent on the back of price appreciation in Unity Bank (+8.3%), Sterling (+7.6%) and Fidelity Bank (+1.6%) while the industrial goods index marginally rose 0.1 percent buoyed by the positive performance of CAP (+7.5%). On the flip side, the oil & gas index extended losses, falling 4.2 percent as gains in Forte Oil (+9.8%) and Mobil (+3.6%) failed to offset losses in Seplat (-9.8%). Furthermore, the consumer goods index declined 0.1 percent due to losses in Nestle (-0.3%) and Flourmill (-1.9%).

Investor sentiment (advance/ decline ratio) dipped to 1.0x from 1.2x recorded Wednesday as 20 stocks advanced against 21 stocks that declined. The top performing stocks for the day were John Holt (+10.0%), Axa Mansard (+10.0%) and Forte Oil (+9.8%) while United Capital (-9.9%), Seplat (-9.8%) and Cutix (-9.6%) led the under-performing stocks.

Analysts expect the domestic bourse to recover from Thursday’s negative performance on the final trading session of the week, in line with the undulating trend recorded throughout the week