NSE LIVE! Equities hit six-month low as average return worsens to -14.67%

In from Success Allantee . . .
As more corporate earnings continued to flow in, Nigerian equities remained under pressure. More than two out of every three price changes yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended in the negative, sustaining a five-day downtrend that had seen the benchmark index slipping below its six-month support base.
With 34 decliners to 14 advancers, investors appeared unexcited with the corporate returns. Not less than six companies filed in their nine-month unaudited results yesterday including major companies such as Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Union Bank of Nigeria and Skye Bank Plc.
The benchmark index for the Nigerian stock market, the All Share Index (ASI)- a value-based common indicator that tracks prices of all quoted equities on the NSE, indicated average day-on-day decline of 0.86 per cent yesterday, equivalent to a loss of N88 billion. The decline worsened the negative average year-to-date return to -14.67%.
The ASI dropped from its opening index of 29,828.95 points to close at 29,572.90 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped from N10.252 trillion to close at N10.164 trillion. The momentum of activity at the stock market also slowed down considerably as aggregate volume and value of equities traded dropped by 61.5% and 74.0% respectively. Total turnover stood at 141.27 million shares valued at N1.36 billion in 3,218 deals.
Most group indices also closed in the red, underlining the wide spread of the selling sentiments. The NSE Banking Index declined by 1.9%. The NSE Oil & Gas Index dropped by 1.4% while the NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.8%. However, the duo of NSE Insurance Index and NSE Industrial Index rose by 1.2% and 0.22 per cent respectively.
Analysts were divided on the outlook for the market in the days ahead. Many analysts expect the market to remain under selling pressure especially over uncertainties around Nigeria’s currency management in spite of the repeated stand of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that it will not broach devaluation of the Naira. Some analysts said sustained depreciation in share prices has substantially undervalued several stocks and created good buy opportunities for bargain-hunters.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities in free fall as investors weigh in on Q3 earnings

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities said the string of losses recorded in the market has created attractive positions for technical traders, citing the six-month low of the benchmark index. However, analysts at Afrinvest Securities expected further sell-down pressure on Oando and banking stocks, which indirectly referenced continuing negative overall market position.
Guinness Nigeria led the decliners yesterday with a loss of N7.11 to close at N135.09. Unilebver Nigeria followed with a drop of N2.14 to close at N40.71. Stanbic IBTC Holdings declined by N1.09 to close at N20.76. Ashaka Cement lost 90 kobo to close at N22.10. Oando declined by 87 kobo to close at N8.13. Guaranty Trust Bank slipped by 70 kobo to close at N23.50 while Berger Paints dropped by 52 kobo to close at N9.98 per share.
On the upside, Beta Glass led the contrarian stocks with a gain of N1.05 to close at N46.20. Dangote Cement followed with a gain of 49 kobo to close at N163.50. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria added 29 kobo to close at N8.25. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria rose by 19 kobo to close at N38.20 while Ikeja Hotels Plc gathered 14 kobo to close at N3.58 per share.

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