The correction in the equities market stretched into its third session as profit taking in financials easily outweighed value buying in top consumer brands. The banks were the worst hit, tier I banks such as Zenith(-3.13%), Guaranty(-2.12%) and UBA(-2.04%) dropped on strong domestic selling albeit foreign buying tapered the extent of the loss. Tier II banks were not so fortunate, panic selling crashed prices in banks such as FCMB(-9.71%), Diamond(-9.60%) and Fidelity(-9.52%). Sentiment were mixed in consumer names – NB(+2.06%) and Nestle(+0.26%) advanced on foreign demand while Cadbury(-6.13%) and Unilever(-0.88%) dropped on risk aversion. Wapco(+1%) jumped on price upgrades while Dangcem recovered following a late arbitrary buying by a domestic investor.
The risk off mood in the market dampened turnover to a 2-week low of N5.1bn ($14m); the top traded names were Guaranty($4.4m), FBN($2m) and Zenith($1.5m). Today’s -0.96% drop cut ytd return to +14.96%, we expect the market to tick lower in coming sessions on sustained panic selling.
