Nigerian Stocks end in near stalemate despite gains from Stanbic, Zenith Bank, FCMB

Nigerian bourse closed relatively flat today, as the All-Share Index fell slightly by 0.04% to print at 35,021.26 points. Hence, year-to-date return and market capitalization settled at 14.48% and N18.3 trillion respectively.

• A total volume of 283.0 million units of shares, valued at N3.42billion exchanged hands in 3,855 deals. FBNH was the most traded shares by volume at 40.7million units, while GUARANTY topped by value at N1.08billion.
• The market breadth index was negative with 21 losers against 13 gainers. ARDOVA (-8.65%) led the laggards today, while UNITYBNK (+4.69%) was the top gainer.
• The sectorial performance was tepid as the Insurance, Oil & Gas, Banking, and Consumer Goods indexes dipped -1.04%, -0.37%, -0.07%, and -0.03%, while the Industrial inched up by +0.10%.

Top gainers

1. UNITYBNK up 4.69% to close at N0.67
2. LIVESTOCK up 2.94% to close at N1.4
3. FCMB up 2.67% to close at N3.08
4. ZENITHBANK up 0.21% to close at N23.45
5. STANBIC up 0.11% to close at N44.05

Top Losers

1. ARDOVA down 8.65% to close at N13.2
2. CHAMPION down 8.16% to close at N0.9
3. FIDSON down 7.79% to close at N4.5
4. NEIMETH down 5.14% to close at N2.4
5. JBERGER down 0.54% to close at N18.4

Outlook

Nigerian Stocks ended the mid-week trading session on a slightly bearish note, amid falling oil prices prevailing at the U.S trading session. At the time of writing this report, Brent crude was trading below $49/barrel.

• That said, significant gains seen from NSE30 Stocks that include Stanbic IBTC, Zenith Bank, FCMB couldn’t stop Nigerian stocks from closing slightly red, as sell-offs intensified among top pharmaceutical stocks and medium capitalized stocks.
• Cautious buying is envisaged, on the sentiments that recent price action shows further market correction in the near term, however, stock traders anticipate the bullish run is still in play for the long term.