Trading in the Nigerian equities market ended in the positive territory today as the broad benchmark index advanced by 0.41% at the close of the session. Improved sentiments from local investors towards the banks supported by gains in UBA (+8.62%), Access (+3.85%), Stanbic (+5.71%), Guaranty (+3.57%) and Zenithbank (+0.88%). Other notable gainers were MTNN(+0.04%),CCNN (+3.14%) which finished stronger at the end of the session. Though we saw weakness in Unilever (-9.93%), Intbrew (-9.92%),MRS (-9.73%) and ETI (-8.45%), points accumulated by today’s advancers were sufficient to guide the market into the green zone.
Market turnover improved to N2.7bn ($7.6m), boosted crosses MTNN ($0.68mln), Zenithbank ($1.6 mln) with mixed interest. The NSEASI ytd return moderated further to -16.00%. We expect the market to maintain this trading pattern in the next session.