The equities market snapped a 4-day winning streak today as investors turned price sensitive even as profit taking commenced in a few blue chips. Expectedly, cautious buying ensued as investors refrained from chasing stocks higher; despite decent bids, most blue chip favourites – Dangcem and Zenith closed unchanged while Guaranty(-0.05%) and Stanbic(-0.02%) ended flattish. The biggest drag on the bourse was Wapco(-4.20%) which slipped on weak demand; NB(-0.65%) dropped on profit taking and Diamond(-4.76%) fell to a 4-month low of N1 on selling by a major investor. Recently battered consumer stocks found support today – PZ(+2.15%) an Cadbury(+4%) rose for the first time in 2-weeks on bargain hunting; and Flourmill(+4.05%) jumped on strong domestic buying.
Turnover of N3.2bn ($9m) was buoyed by a block trade of 6mln NB ($2.8m) between foreign investors. Today’s loss of -0.15% trimmed ytd gain to +36.85, we expect the market to trade sideways in coming sessions.
