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NSE ASI edges 9bps up amidst choppy trading

What shaped the market today?

• The Nigerian equity market traded choppy but finally settled 9bps higher at mid-week with most key sectors holding on to previous session’s gains. On the global front, Asian markets traded higher as investors cheered upbeat Japanese exports data for December (grew 5.4% y/y beating Reuters forecast of 1.2%) and South Korea’s Q4 GDP numbers (rose 0.4% q/q against an estimate of 0.3%). European and U.S. markets were also higher as investors continue to focus on corporate earnings releases. Meanwhile, global Oil & Gas stocks rallied after President Trump signed orders to revive pipeline projects.
• The Oil & Gas (+68bps) rode on gains in OANDO (+239ps), FO (+187bps) and MOBIL (+109bps) to close in the green for the third consecutive session. The Industrial Goods sector (+41bps) traded higher after WAPCO garnered 100bps. The Consumer Goods sector (+4bps) also closed higher, albeit marginally, amidst mixed performances across HONYFLOUR (-496bps), GUINNESS (-134bps), NASCON (+495bps) and DANGSUGAR (+125bps). However, the Banking sector index was unchanged as advances in UBN (+166bps), UNITYBNK (+147bps) and ETI (+110bps) were countered by declines in STERLNBANK (-385bps), DIAMONDBNK (-93bps) and FCMB (-75bps).
• Market breadth turned positive with 23 advances and 16 declines.

What will shape the next trading session?

• Although the NSE ASI closed higher, we note that overall market direction is not clearly positive as revealed by the see-saw movement in the intraday chart. That said, we believe trading will remain mixed in the next session and could again lead to another marginal movement in the ASI.