Stock market rebounds on bargain hunting as ASI up 0.10%

 

The equities market halted two consecutive sessions of losses, with the All Share Index (ASI) inching higher by 0.10 percent to 40,802.78 points, following interests in value stocks.
Accordingly, investors gained N14 billion in value as market capitalization improved to N14.7 trillion. Bargain hunting in market bellwethers – Nestle Nigeria (+5.0 percent) and Zenith Bank (+2.6 percent) as well as Dangote Sugar (+2.2 percent) drove today’s positive performance. In spite of the bullish performance, activity level weakened as volume and value traded dipped 20.3 percent and 57.1 percent)p to 246.6 million units and N3.2 billion respectively. The top traded stocks by volume were Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (35.4 million), Zenith Bank (24.6 million) and Carverton Offshore Services (19.6 million) while Guaranty Trust Bank (N805.3 million), Zenith Bank (N682.3 million) and Stanbic IBTC Holdings (N263.1 million) were the top traded stocks by value.
Sector performance was largely bullish as 3 of 5 sectors under our watch closed in the green. The Oil & Gas index was the top gainer, up 0.8 percent due to buying interest in FORTE (+10.2 percent). The Consumer Goods index, inched 0.7 percent higher on the back of gains in Nestle Nigeria (+5.0 percent) and Dangote Sugar (+2.2 percent). Similarly, the Banking index appreciated 0.5 percent as investors took positions in Zenith Bank (+2.6 percent), UBA (+0.9 percent) and Access Bank (+0.9 percent). On the other hand, the Industrial Goods index led laggards shedding 0.4 percent as a result of sell offs in Lafarge Africa (-0.8 percent) following the negative Q1:2018 earnings report released the previous day. Lastly, the Insurance index lost 0.4 percent on account of price depreciation in Continental Reinsurance (-4.8 percent) and MansardAXAInsurance (-2.5 percent).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) increased to 1.0x from 0.8x recorded in the previous session as 26 stocks advanced against 25 decliners. Today’s top performers were Forte Oil (+10.2 percent), Honeywell Flour Mills (+6.0 percent) and Nestle Nigeria (+5.0 percent) while Fidson Healthcare (-9.6 percent), Julius Berger (-5.0 percent) and Champion Breweries (-5.0 percent) were the worst performing stocks.