NSE LIVE! More corporate earnings fail to halt equities’ slide

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued to trade in the red zone in spite of additional inflow of earnings reports from several companies. Not less than seven companies submitted their earnings reports yesterday, sustaining a two-day flow that had seen nine companies submitting their corporate earnings reports on Wednesday.
Companies that released their results yesterday included Lafarge Africa, Guinness Nigeria, Berger Paints, Courteville Business Solutions, CAP Plc, Mobil Oil Nigeria and First Aluminium Nigeria Plc. But these results failed to excite the market, with most equities closing with lower prices.
Companies that had released their results in the previous trading sessions included Guaranty trust Bank, Access Bank Plc, NEM Insurance, Nigerian Breweries, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills and Africa Prudential Registrars among others.
Many analysts had expected the release of corporate earnings, especially nine-month results, which oftentimes indicate the possible year-end positions of companies, to quicken market momentum and lead to steady recovery in share prices of severally undervalued stocks.
With 26 decliners to 17 advancers, the selling sentiments at the stock market widened yesterday with average day-on-day return of -0.6 per cent, equivalent to a loss of N60 billion. The benchmark index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the All Share Index (ASI) declined from 30,199.15 points to close lower at 30,025.62 points.
Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped from its opening value of N10.379 trillion to close at N10.319 trillion, representing a loss of N60 billion.
Market turnover was above average with the exchange of 284.12 million shares valued at N2.82 billion in 2,995 deals. The relatively large volume and negative share prices underlined the selling pressure on several equities, especially highly capitalised stocks in consumer goods and building materials sectors.
Guinness Nigeria, which released its three-month report for the period ended September 30, 2015 indicating 76 per cent decline in net profit, led the losers’ list with a drop of N8.60 to close at N142.20 per share. Okomu Oil Palm followed with a loss of N3.47 to close at N32.16. Unilever Nigeria dropped by N1.98 to close at N42.85. Dangote Cement declined by N1.55 to close at N163. Cadbury Nigeria lost N1.10 to close at N20.90. Nigerian Breweries slipped by N1.01 to close at N137. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated dropped by 69 kobo to close at N18.06. Seven-Up Bottling Company lost 50 kobo to close at N196.50. Lafarge Africa dropped by 49 kobo to close at N98.50 while Nascon Allied Industries dropped by 23 kobo to close at N7.18 per share.
“Given the weak investor sentiment in the market arising from the macroeconomic challenges, the expectedly mixed earnings results of quoted companies have so far failed to buoy market sentiment. We expect investors to approach the earnings season with more caution with financial results of consumer and industrial goods counters expected to be filed in the trading sessions ahead,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Profit-taking halts equities as Dangote Cement loses N75b

On the upside, Beta Glass topped the gainers’ list with a gain of N2.15 to close at N45.15. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria rose by 99 kobo to close at N39.99. PZ Cussons Nigeria added 92 kobo to close at N26.10 per share. Oando gathered 53 kobo to close at N10.40. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria rose by 29 kobo to close at N7.67 while Union Bank of Nigeria added 20 kobo to close at N5.75 per share.
Stock-by-stock analysis showed that Access bank was the most traded stock with a turnover of 57.71 million shares worth N289.7 million. Fidelity Bank followed with a turnover of 50.01 million shares worth N74.98 million while Diamond Bank recorded a turnover of 37.72 million shares valued at N109.5 million.

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