Bloody Monday as stocks skid into losses (Full price list)

The second half of the month of March opened downbeat, as the index declined by 2.57% to bring YtD return to -13.64%. Volume and Value of transactions traded declined by 82.9% and 69.53% WtD accordingly. UNITYBNK and GUARANTY led the volume and value of transactions chart, while STANBICETF and OKOMUOIL led the gainers and losers’ chart respectively.

The performance of the market was majorly influenced by investors’ activities in the banking sector, as it closed the day with a return of -4.53%. Also, the MERI-CONG (-2.98%), MERI-CMG (-2.01%),and MERI-OILG (-0.83%) followed suit , while the only indices to advance were the MERI-HLTH (4.85%), MERI-SER (0.75%) and MER-INS (0.08%).

Access Bank released FY2014 results, which showed that the bank recorded increases in Gross earnings and profit-after-tax of 18.53% and 18.40% respectively. The bank also proposed dividend of NGN0.35/share, with a closure date of 24th April 2015. Despite this impressive result, the ticker lost 2.01% as the performance fell below investors’ expectation, while the pay-out ratio may suggest that the bank has been curbed by the CBN’s dividend policy. Although we acknowledge that capital conservation might have been the primary motive behind the lower-than-expected pay-out.

Although we expect that earnings releases may drive market activities in the week, our optimism is tempered by our expectation that market activities may be dampened by increasing investor consternation regarding the upcoming general elections. |Meristem

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