NSE Index down 1.05% as bearish sentiment persists Wednesday

The bearish sentiment continued on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday  as the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 1.05 per cent  to 38,606.41 points even as the market capitalization fell below N14 trillion to NGN13.98 trillion.

Accordingly, Month-to-Date loss surged to 6.45 per cent, the highest seen so far in 2018 – while Year-to-Date gain dropped to 0.95 per cent.

The Consumer Goods (-2.63%) index posted the largest loss, followed by the Industrial Goods (-2.56%) and Banking (-0.34%) indices, largely attributable to selloffs of the shares of INTBREW (-4.92%), DANGCEM (-1.02%), and STERLNBANK (-4.58%) respectively.

Meanwhile, gains resurfaced in the Insurance (+0.99%) and Oil & Gas (+0.06%) indices, following interests in the shares of HMARKINS (+6.25%) and ETERNA (+3.98%).

Market breadth was negative, with 25 losers and 23 gainers, led by HMARKINS (+6.25%) and IKEJAHOTEL (-7.04%) – which halted 5 consecutive days of gains. Growth in total volume and value of trades turned positive at 53.86 per cent  and 188.46 per cent to 342.05 million units and NGN4.74 billion, respectively, exchanged in 5,057 deals.

Despite continued bearish trading, relatively lower stock prices create room for bargain-hunting over the medium-to-long term. Thus, we guide investors (particularly those with a strong bias for short termism) to trade cautiously and focus primarily on fundamentally sound stocks. Analysts at Cordros Capital advised investor thus.