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NSE ASI hovers round the flat line, down 5bps

What shaped the market today?

• Sell pressure persisted on the Nigerian bourse in today’s trading session, with a handful of stocks closing in the red (almost doubling stocks in the green). However, the NSE ASI shed only 5bps amidst gains in select market blue chips. On the global front, Asian markets traded mixed as investors continued to react to Trump’s policies, especially his stance on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Meanwhile, European and U.S. markets were higher as investors digested a stream of corporate earnings releases.
• The Oil & Gas sector (+117bps) forged higher largely on the back of gains in large-cap SEPLAT (+411bps). Similarly, the Consumer Goods sector (+31bps) was primarily lifted by gains in blue chip NESTLE (+403bps) as most of the other stocks within the sector closed lower, notably 7UP (-499bps), NB (-138bps) and NASCON (-106bps). The Industrial Goods sector (+5bps) also closed marginally higher amidst gains in CCNN (+500bps). The bearish market sentiment was however more apparent in the Banking Sector (-113bps) no thanks to losses in STERLNBANK (-488bps), ZENITHBANK (-345bps), UBA (-116bps) and FCMB (-75bps).
• Market breadth turned negative with 13 advances and 25 declines.

What will shape the next trading session?

• As earlier highlighted, the bearish market sentiment was largely muted by gains in a few market blue chips, else, the decline in the ASI could have been steeper. That said, we do not rule out the chances of key sectors posting losses in the coming session.