Stocks sustain fresh bargain trend, record modest gain of N4 billion

Attractive valuations from well beaten stocks seem to be spurring participation by speculative investors on the Nigerian bourse.

At the end of the weekly trading, the index movement indicates that the NSE All-Share Index and market capitalization appreciated by 0.05 per cent and N4 billion to close the week at 27,631.05 points and N9.500 trillion respectively. Similarly, six other indices finished higher during the week, except the NSE main board index with -0.78 per cent, NSE 30 index with -0.10 per cent, NSE Consumer Goods Index with -0.10 per cent, NSE Oil and Gas Index with 6.19 per cent and NSE Pension Index with -0.66 per cent.

Although analysts noted that the market is yet to find enough momentum to ensure that the positive sentiment is sustained over a prolonged period of time.

However, a turnover of 1.218 billion shares worth N14.685 billion in 13,495 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the exchange in contrast to a total of 1.041 billion shares valued at N13.007 billion that exchanged hands last week in 13,407 deals.

The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.068 billion shares valued at N9.888 billion traded in 7,803 deals; thus contributing 87.73 per cent and 67.33 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 48.455 million shares worth N2.450 billion in 2,560 deals. The third place was occupied by the Conglomerates Industry with a turnover of 45.914 million shares worth N364.525 million in 622 deals.

Trading in the top three equities namely Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 610.558 million shares worth N7.340 billion in 3,262 deals, contributing 50.13 per cent and 49.98 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

On day by day transaction the Nigerian equities continued on a downtrend trend on Monday as the All Share Index closed lower at 27,385.69 points losing 231.76 basis points. Market capitalization settled at N9.416 trillion as it lost N80 billion while 20 stocks appreciated against 31 decliners.

Sells off were prevalent across all the four major sectors as losses were seen in PZ, Forte Oil, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Dangote Cement.

Negative returns filter across all major sectors as Oil and Gas dropped 2.7 per cent, Financial Services down by 1 per cent, Consumer Goods losses 0.8 per cent and Industrial Goods with 0.6 per cent loss sectors all saw negative returns.

Unilever Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, Seplat Petroleum Development Company and Guinness Nigeria were amongst the larger losing equities. However Oando and Zenith Bank unusually bucked their industry standards as their equity prices increased.

Consequently, equities market continues to defy all fundamental and technical justifications for an imminent reversal in the short term on Tuesday as sentiment remain weak with offshore investors staying on the sidelines.

The Nigerian equities market on Tuesday extends its daily losses for four trading days in a row. The bourse shed 0.26 per cent on weak demand. The index and market capitalization closed lower at 27,314.00 and N9.391 trillion respectively. The market breadth retains its bearish posture with 23 decliners against 16 advancers.

Volume and value of trades decline by 52.06 per cent and 48.09 per cent respectively from their previous trading levels. Financial services sector remains the most active sector by volume driven by transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings, Guaranty Trust Bank, UBA, FCMB and Access Bank.

The NSE All Share Index and all sector indices closed in red save for NSE Banking, NSE Insurance, NSE Lotus Islamic and NSE Industrial which recorded a daily gain of 0.16 per cent, 0.42 per cent, 0.34 per cent and 0.06 per cent respectively. The poor performance in the market may be attributable to the cautious mood of investors waiting for stock prices to bottom out. We advise investors to accumulate in tranches potentially underpriced stocks.

However, market book five straight days of losses recording 26.11 basis points decline on Wednesday. The index and market capitalization closed lower at 27,287.89 points and N9.382 trillion respectively. The market breadth remains in favor of the bears with 27 decliners against 17 advancers.

Volume and value of trades recorded an astronomical surge of 150.09 per cent and 241.77 per cent respectively from their previous trading levels.

Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank, Union Homes, FBN Holdings, Zenith Bank and AxaMansard Insurance topped the chart as the most traded equities by volume.

The NSE All Share Index and all sector indices closed southwards save for NSE Lotus Islamic, NSE Industrial, NSE Premium and NSE Alternative Securities Market with daily gains of 0.54 per cent, 1.31 per cent, 0.62 per cent and 0.21 per cent respectively.

Experts believed that the poor performance in the market may be attributable to the cautious mood of investors waiting for stock prices to bottom out.

After a repeated bout of negative trading, the market capitalization closed on a positive note on Thursday gaining N93 billion to close at N9.475 trillion.

The day’s gains were spurred by buy interests in major consumer goods counters. While NSE All Share Index gained 271.29 points, the total volume and value traded decreased by 35 per cent and 42.4 per cent to 249.1 million units and N3.1 billion respectively. 18 equity prices appreciated while 21 declined. The merger of PZ Cusson Plc, PZ Towers Limited and PZ Power Company Limited, which promises maximum benefits of synergy through reduced costs and reduction of transfer pricing complexities, was well received, nudging market sentiments to the positive.

However, we note that the market is yet to find enough momentum to ensure that this positive sentiment is sustained over a prolonged period of time.

All major sectors on the benchmark index saw positive daily returns. Access Bank and Zenith Bank gained 4 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively leading to a 0.9 per cent appreciation in the Financial Services sector.

The Industrial goods sector saw daily return of 1 per cent on the back of Dangote Cement 1.3 per cent offsetting the 0.7 per cent decline in Lafarge Africa. The consumer goods sector saw the largest return as gains were seen in, Nigerian Breweries and Guinness Nigeria. A gain of 2.6 per cent in Oando pushed the Oil and Gas sector up by 0.2 per cent.

The market had on Friday gain N25 billion represented 0.26 per cent to close at N9.500 trillion from N9.475 trillion it opened.

Meanwhile summary of price changes shows that 28 equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 21 equities of the preceding week. Fifty-one equities depreciated in price, higher than 41 of preceding week, while 111 equities remained unchanged, compared to 128 equities recorded in the preceding week.

Nestle Nigeria Plc led gainers chart with 15.00 per cent per share to close at N825.00 kobo, followed by Total Nigeria Plc with 4.00 per cent to close at N147.00 kobo, Dangote Cement Plc with 3.05 per cent to close at N161.05 kobo, Lafarge Africa Plc with 3.00 per cent to close at N92.00 per share and Okomu Oil Plc with 2.75 per cent to close at N29.65 kobo per share.

Others on the chart are, Beta Glass Plc with 2.42 per cent to close at N50.93 kobo, Unilever Nigeria Plc with 1.92 per cent to close at N41.82 kobo, Presco Plc with 1.20 per cent to close at N32.20 kobo, Zenith Bank Plc with 0.65 per cent to close at N16.05 kobo, and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc with 0.44 per cent to close at N16.50 kobo.

On the other hand Forte Oil Plc led on the losers table with 26.85 per cent loss to close at N248.65 kobo, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc lost 15.10 per cent to close at N207.00 kobo, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc with 3.89 per cent to close at N126.11 kobo, Flour Mills Nigeria Plc with 1.87 per cent to close at N19.10, Conoil Plc with 1.37 per cent to close at N26.04 kobo.

Others on the chart are, 7-Up Bottling Company Plc with 1.00 per cent to close at N183.00 kobo, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc with 0.60 per cent to close at N16.60 kobo, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc with 0.56 per cent to close at N19.99 kobo, FBN Holdings Plc with 0.55 per cent to close at N4.90 kobo per share and Ikeja Hotel Plc with 0.48 per cent loss to end the week with N3.18 kobo per share.