NSE LIVE! Equities in tight trades as earnings trickle in

Nigerian equities opened this week with a tight market situation as investors weighed valuations against prospective dividend payouts to determine the direction and degree of their portfolio adjustments. Two companies–African Prudential and United Capital released their audited report and dividend payouts on Monday, but investors responded with selloff on the stocks.

African Prudential announced a dividend per share of 40 kobo while United Capital declared a dividend per share of 35 kobo. Both stocks suffered price depreciation as investors appeared to have price in dividend expectations into the stocks.

Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated a tight market situation with a marginal gain of 0.02 per cent, equivalent to a net capital gain of N3 billion. Sectoral indices showed a mixed performance with positive sentiments in the banking, consumer goods and insurance sectors counteracting the decline in the oil and gas and industrial goods sectors.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the common value-based index that tracks share prices at the Exchange, rose marginally from 42,570.89 points to close at 42,579.48 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also increased slightly from N15.277 trillion to close at N15.280 trillion. The average year-to-date return inched up to 11.34 per cent.

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Sectoral analysis showed a mixed but largely positive performance. The NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 0.8 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index posted a return of 0.5 per cent while NSE Banking Index gained 0.3 per cent. However, the NSE Oil & Gas Index slumped by 2.5 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index dipped by 0.2 per cent.

There were 21 advancers against 26 decliners. International Breweries led the advancers with a gain of N2.85 to close at N59.85. PZ Cussons Nigeria appreciated by N1.15 to close at N24.15. Nascon Allied Industries rose by N1.05 to close at N21.60. Guaranty Trust Bank added 75 kobo to close at N49.35 while Zenith Bank chalked up 40 kobo to close at N32.15.

On the negative side, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the decliners with a loss of N13.70 to close at N671.40. Total Nigeria followed with a drop of N11 to close at N217. 11, formerly  Mobil Oil Nigeria, declined by N9.50 to close at N180.50. Dangote Cement dropped by N1 to close at N259 while United Bank for Africa lost 45 kobo to close at N12.50 per share.

Total turnover stood at 384.86 million shares valued at N5.47 billion in 4,774 deals. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria was the most active with a turnover of 134.9 million shares valued at N2.25 billion. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria followed with a turnover of 34.15 million shares worth N71.04 million while FBN Holdings placed third with 21.78 million shares valued at N250.07 million.

“In the near term, we expect market performance to be largely driven by full-year 2017 result expectation,” Afrinvest Securities-a Lagos-based dealer at the Exchange, stated.

Analysts at Cordros Capital remained positive about the market outlook noting that with positive macroeconomic fundamentals, the market looks to “continued gains; more so, as the fourth quarter 2017 earnings season draws closer”.

 

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