The equities market snapped a 7-day losing streak today as investors found prices too low to ignore; effectively prioritizing return potentials over existing risk pressures. Banking stocks reversed a chunk of recent losses – UBA(+6.28%), FBNH(5%), Zenith(+5%) and Access(+5%) all closed on net bid on bargain hunting. Speculative demand by domestic investors pushed tier II banks higher. Consumer stocks also closed up – Flourmill(+2.86%), Nestle(+1.89%) and NB(+0.94%) all advanced on reduced foreign selling. Bucking the trend was defensive large cap – Dangcem(-0.12%) which dropped on profit taking
Turnover was decent at N4.7bn ($13m) with trades in Guaranty($4.4m), Nestle($1.5m) and UBA($1.3m) accounting for 56% of value traded. Today’s 1.11% gain lifted ytd return to +10.27%, we expect the market to tick higher tomorrow on fresh optimism.