A combination of fresh global risk off, falling oil prices and late panic selling dragged the ASI -0.46% lower today to cap a full week of negative closes. Banking stocks were the worst hit, tier I banks such as Zenith(-3.44%), UBA(-2.83%) and Guaranty(-2.04%) all dropped to 1-month low mainly on late panic selling from domestic investors and weak demand. Stanbic bucked the trend, appreciating +2.11% on light volumes and recently battered tier IIs – Diamond(+6.52%) and FCMB(+1.09%) also gained on speculative bets. Bearish sentiments weighed on consumers stocks such as Cadbury(-4.52%), Flourmill(-1.21%), Nestle(-0.93%) and NB(-0.36%). Gains in index heavyweight – Dangcem(+0.64%) helped taper today’s loss.
Turnover was decent at N4.4bn ($12.3m) buoyed mainly by a 379k cross in Nestle ($1.4m) and trades in banking stocks. This week’s -3.38% loss was the biggest in seven months, ytd return dropped to +12.77%. We expect the market to tick lower next week on sustained apathy.
