Sell-off in Nestle, Dangote Cement drags market performance downward by 0.84%

 

The equities market started the week on a negative note, as the All Share Index (ASI) dipped 0.84 percent to 40,677.61 points, as investors took profit in value stocks.
As a result, investors lost N124.9 billion as market capitalization fell to N14.7 trillion. Activity level, however, was mixed as volume of shares traded grew 2.0 percent to 218.8 million units while value of shares traded dipped by 47.3 percent to N2.2 billion. The top traded stocks by volume were UBA (60.4 million), FCMB (17.5 million) and Sovereign Tryst Insurance (12.4 million) while the top traded stocks by value were UBA (N706.6 million), Nestle Nigeria (N168.9 million) and Zenith Bank (N159.4 million).
Sector performance was largely bearish as all the indices under our coverage save for the Oil & Gas index closed in the red. The Insurance index led laggards, down 1.7 percent resulting from losses in AXAMansard (-4.9 percent) and Custodian and Alliance Insurance (-3.7 percent) which dragged the index lower. The Consumer Goods index trailed, shedding 1.6 percent as declines in Nestle Nigeria (-3.2 percent) and Nigerian Breweries (-2.0 percent) dragged the Index. Similarly, sell-offs in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (-1.7 percent) and Dangote Cement (-0.6 percent) led to a pullback of 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent in the Banking and Industrial Goods indices respectively. On the flipside, the Oil & Gas Index closed flattish, up a marginal 1bp, as buying interest in Eterna Oil (+1.0 percent) offset losses in Oando (-4.9 percent).
Investors sentiment measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.3x from 0.7x recorded last Friday as 11 stocks advanced while 34 stocks declined. Today’s top gainers were Carverton Offshore Services (+5.0 percent), Sterling Bank (+3.8 percent) and Mutual Benefit Insurance (+3.6 percent) while C&I Leasing (-9.4 percent), First Aluminum (-8.9 percent) and Japaul Oil (-7.5 percent) led the laggards.