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Dear Afrinvestor, 

Market Statistics Tuesday, 14th August 2018

Local Bourse Maintains Downward Trend... ASI down 31 bps
The local bourse maintained a downward trend as sell-offs in ACCESS (-3.0%), FLOURMILL (-11.4%) and GUARANTY (-0.5%) weighed heavily on performance at the close of trade today. As a result, the benchmark index slid 31bps to 35,288.23 points, YTD return contracted to -7.7% and market capitalization fell by N40.5bn to N12.9tn. However, activity level was mixed as volume traded improved 2.5% to 164.0m units while value traded fell 27.2% to N1.6bn. The top traded stocks by volume were UBA (26.9m), LASACO (12.2m) and FBNH (11.5m) while GUARANTY (N289.7bn), UBA (N250.7bn) and STANBIC (N136.8bn) were the top traded stocks by value.

Consumer Goods Index Bucks Bearish Sector Performance
Sector performance was bearish, however, the Consumer Goods index trended northwards as buy interest in INTBREW (+5.2%) and UNILEVER (+0.8%) drove the index 0.2% higher. On the flip side, the Insurance index was the biggest loser, down 2.2% following sell pressures in CONTINSURE (-9.5%) and LINKASSURE (-13.9%); with a YTD loss of -0.2%, the index joins other indices returning a loss year to date. Similarly, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices shed 1.1% and 0.8% respectively, following price depreciation in ACCESS (-3.0%), GUARANTY (-0.5%) and ETERNA (-9.7%). The Industrial Goods index closed the day flattish, down 1 bp.

Investor Sentiment Weakens
Market sentiment as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio) weakened to 0.4x from 0.6x recorded the previous day as 13 stocks advanced against 33 stocks that declined. The top performers for the day were MBENEFIT (+10.0%), CUSTODIAN (+9.9%) and LIVESTOCK (+9.5%) while ABCTRANS (-10.0%), UNIONDAC (-10.0%) and ETERNA (-9.7%) led laggards. In line with our expectation, the market maintained a negative close. We expect this trend to be sustained till midweek, however, we do not rule out the possibility of a rebound by week end as investors seek bargain hunting opportunities.