Nigerian stocks tread water on continued sell-offs as NSEASI fell 0.3%

Nigerian stocks fail to advance Wednesday as continued sell-offs by portfolio investors extend losses into the third trading day. The benchmark index, the NSE All-share Index (NSEASI) shed 0.3 percent to close at 37,499.07 points while YTD declined to -1.9 percent.

The drag in the day’s market performance was due to continued sell-offs in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.6%), UNILEVER (-6.8%) and NESTLE (-0.7%).

Consequently, market capitalisation lost N38.4 billion to settle at N13.5 trillion. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded rose 49.9 percent to 381.8 million units while value traded slid 9.9 percent to N2.4 billion.

The most traded stocks by volume were MULTIVERSE (200.0m), GUARANTY (28.4m) and ACCESS (18.8m) while the most traded stocks by value were GUARANTY (N1.1bn), DANGCEM (N195.4m) and ZENITH (N168.2m).

Sector performance was largely bearish as four of five major indices trended south. The banking index, the lone gainer, halted a 2-day losing streak, up 0.6 percent, as buying interest in GUARANTY (+1.0%) and ZENITH (+1.3%) drove the index higher.

On the other hand, the consumer goods index shed 1.6 percent following sell-offs in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-2.6%) and UNILEVER (-6.8%) while the oil & gas index trailed, declining 0.8 percent due to continued profit taking in FORTE (-10.0%) and CONOIL (-4.8%).

Similarly, price depreciation in CCNN (-3.3%), WAPCO (-1.1%) and WAPIC (-8.0%) dragged the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices, down 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) strengthened to 0.9x from 0.5x recorded in the prior session as 21 stocks advanced relative to 23 decliners.

The day’s top gainers were MAYBAKER (+9.8%), FCMB (+9.6%) and JAPAULOIL (+9.1%) while FORTE (-10.0%), MCNICHOLS (-10.0%) and CONOIL (-8.3%) were the worst performers.

With investors’ sentiment improving slightly on the day as against prior session, analysts say the development could signal a possible upturn in performance as investors hunt for bargain opportunities in the market.