The equities market struggled to close up today requiring a last minute rally in large cap – Nestle(+4.09%) to overturn early losses. The recent rebound in equities weakened as profit taking and risk aversion ensued in most market names. Tier I banks such as Access(-2.33%), UBA(-1.62%) dropped on profit taking; tier IIs like FCMB(-5%), Diamond(-4.48%) and Fidelity(-2.74%) also plunged on risk aversion. Zenith was the sole gainer amongst the banks, advancing on earnings optimism. Negative reaction trailed the release of NB’s full year result, the brewer lost -0.30% after profits fell short of consensus.
Turnover was impressive at N7.91bn ($21.83m) buoyed largely by block trades of 57m Intbrew($8.8m) by domestic investors and 25m Stanbic($4m) between a foreign buyer and domestic seller. Today’s marginal +0.08% gain slightly trimmed this week’s loss to -1.13%, ytd return closed at +11.49%. We expect the market to tick higher next week on a mix of earnings optimism and bargain hunting.
