The equities market switched between small gains and losses today as a rebound in tier I banks was offset by risk aversion in consumer stocks. Value buying pushed prices in the banks – tier Is such as FBNH(+2.76%), Guaranty(+1.59%) and Zenith(+1.45%) all rose on foreign demand while domestic PFA buying buoyed UBA(+3.28%) and Access(+1.60%). On the flip side, consumers were the worst performers, NB(-2.73%) dropped to a 7-month low on the back of a dampened outlook; Nestle(-0.72%) and PZ(-4.76%) slipped on weak demand.
Turnover was decent at N5.3bn ($14.6m) buoyed by activities in Guaranty($2.7m), FBNH($1.88m) and NB($1.4m). Today’s marginal gain of +0.02% took ytd return to +10.24%, we expect the market to ease lower tomorrow on profit taking in banking stocks.
