For the umpteenth time, a last minute jump in index heavyweight – Dangcem defined the market close; slightly disguising the bearish sentiment that dominated the bourse. Dangcem(1.85%) hit a fresh all time high of N275 on a mix of late domestic buying and thin offers. Investors were bullish on a few stocks- Unilever(+5.06%) rose on speculative buying; UBA(+0.79%) and Zenith(+0.16%) closed higher on foreign demand. The broader market was however dominated by risk aversion – Intbrew(-4.77%) and Dangsugar(-1.90%) dropped on weak demand. Some tier I banks also closed lower – Access(-1.93%), Guaranty(-0.20%) dropped on profit taking and tier IIs tumbled on panic selling.
Fresh apathy hit the market today condemning turnover to a month low of N3.4bn ($9.4m), 61% below this year’s daily average of N8.9bn ($24.7m). The top (3) stocks by value are Guaranty($1m), Zenith($900k) and FBNH($86k). Today’s +0.26% gain lifted ytd return to +16.26%, we expect the market to tick lower tomorrow on losses in blue chips.
