UBA, Union Bank, Unilever drag Nigeria equities index down 0.26%

Massive drop in the value of shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) and Unilever Nigeria Monday dragged Nigeria equities index down 0.26 percent to 43,056.51 points.

Markets year-to-date return moderated to 12.6% as market capitalisation lost N105.0 billion in value to settle at N15.4 trillion.

The day’s bearish performance was largely due to losses in UBA (-4.7%), UBN (-4.2%) and UNILEVER (-2.3%).

Similarly, activity level weakened as volume and value traded fell 71.9 percent and 71.7 percent to 431.2 million units and N5.6 billion respectively. The top trades by volume were ZENITH (78.9m), JAPAUL OIL (64.8m), and REGALINS (41.6m), while the top traded by value were ZENITH (N2.5bn), GUARANTY (N0.8bn) and NESTLE (N0.5bn).

Sector Performance was largely mixed as two indices closed in the red, two trended northwards while one closed flat. The insurance index was the biggest gainer, up 0.8 percent on account of price appreciation in MANSARD (+2.7%) and NEM(+3.3%). Similarly, the oil & gas index inched 0.3% higher primarily due to buy interest in TOTAL (+1.7%). On the other hand, sell pressure in UBA (-4.7%) and UBN (-4.2%) dragged the banking index 0.9% southwards. The consumer goods index lost 9bps today on the back of profit taking in UNILEVER (-2.3%) and NASCON (-2.8%) while the industrial goods index closed the day flat.

In the same vein, investor sentiment as measured by the market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.5x from 1.1x recorded the previous Friday as 18 stocks advanced relative to 33 stocks that declined. The top performers were UNIC(+9.5%), MULTIVERSE (+7.7%) and HMARKINS (+7.7%) while REGALINS(-5.7%), DIAMOND (-4.9%) and UPL (-4.8%) were the worst performers.

Despite bearish performance today, analysts at Afrinvest anticipate positive trades in the near term on impeding earnings release this week.