The equities market fell by the most in over 14-weeks as light investors’ participation following the holidays allowed stocks swing on light volumes. Index heavyweights – NB(-4.26%) and Dangcem(-3.96%) dropped on weak demand. Sentiment was also weak in consumers and palm oil stocks – PZ(-3.55%), Unilever(-1.13%), Okomu(-5%) and Presco(-4.86%) all dropped on light volumes. Banking stocks traded sideways – ETI(-2.80%) and UBA(-0.78%) tumbled while tier IIs – Fidelity(+4.62%) and FCMB(+0.74%) rose on aggressive domestic buying.
Turnover was low at N2.11bn ($5.8m), 58% below this year’s daily average of N5.1bn ($14m). Today’s -1.64% decline cut ytd return to 40.99%, we expect the market to rebound in coming sessions.