Nigerian bourse down 1.49% Wednesday as bearish sentiment resurfaces

Bearish sentiments resurfaced strongly on the Nigerian bourse on Wednesday with the All-Share Index dropping 1.49 per cent  to 34,414.37 points, as foreign players intensified sell pressure in value stocks, amidst lingering selloffs across emerging markets.

As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to -1.25 per cent and -10.01 per cent, respectively.

There were broad selloffs across major sectoral indices – Oil & Gas (-3.21%), Industrial Goods (-2.30%), Insurance (-1.59%), and Banking (-1.20%) – save for the Consumer Goods index, which inched up 0.25%.

Sour investor sentiment in SEPLAT (-7.23%), DANGCEM (-3.04%), MBENEFIT (-10.00%), ZENITHBANK (-2.05%) shares led to losses in the respective losing indices, while interest in INTBREW (+3.13%) shares led to the gain in the positive index.

Market breadth remained negative, with 26 losers and 20 losers, led by MBENEFIT (-10.00%) and CILEASING (+9.93%) shares, respectively. Total volume and value of trades rose by 59.85% and 72.23% to 200.28 million units and NGN2.16 billion, respectively, and exchanged in 3,224 deals.

“We guide investors to trade cautiously in the short to medium, as selloffs are likely to persist, amidst the absence of a one-off positive trigger, as well as likely negative sentiments of investors (particularly foreign players), as a result of (1) contagion effect of emerging market selloffs, and (2) political concerns ahead of the 2019 election”. Analysts at Cordros Capital advised on Wednesday.