The NSE All Share Index started the week on a bearish note declining by 0.22% to drag the Year-to-Date return to –12.67%. Volume and value of transactions both declined by 47.35% and 55.68% respectively. In the same vein, 19 stocks advanced against 27 decliners to tilt market breadth (0.70x) in favour of underperformers.
ETRANZACT led the outperformers, after recording a price gain of 9.88%. Following closely were PORTPAINT (4.87%), CUSTODYINS (4.68 %), NEM (4.62%), and UBCAP (3.52%). On the other hand, VONO led the laggards with a price decline of 7.87% to close at NGN0.82. Other decliners were CHAMPION and INTERLINK, with price declines of 4.97% apiece while FLOURMILL (4.57%), and TRANSEXPR (4.55%) pared in that order.
The NSE sector indices also mirrored the bearish mood of the market, as most of the indices trended south. The NSEINS10 (-0.55%), NSEIND (-0.29%), NSEFBT10 (-0.08%) and NSEBNK10 (-0.03%) indices all declined. Only NSEOILG5 (0.07%) advanced at the end of today’s trading session.
We attribute today’s lacklustre performance to profit taking activities by investors, following the bullish run in previous weeks. We expect the outcome of the MPC meeting, scheduled for 21st and 22nd of September 2015, to influence the direction of trades this week.
