The equities market resumed post holidays to the dividend mark down in index heavyweight, Dangcem (-5.41%) which pulled the stock lower and also influenced proceedings on the NSEASI (-1.30%). Early barrage of crosses in Guaranty (-1.92%) at previous close price appeared to lighten the market mood which subsequently fizzled out due to weaker bargain hunting post crosses. UBA (-2.36%) also succumbed to selling pressure among the banks whilst Stanbic (+1.19%), Zenith (+0.74%) and Access (+0.80%) posted modest gains to mask the loss position on the subsector index. The consumers posted marginal losses which was largely influenced by decline in Guinness (-2.06%). On the flipside, oil & gas major – Seplat (+2.68%) and telco giant – MTNN (+0.26%) posted positive performance on the day.
Market turnover rose to N5.8bn ($17.5m), dominated by offshore crosses in Guaranty ($6.8m), others include: foreign block trades in Zenith ($1.0m) and local crosses in Mobil ($2.7m). Ytd loss on the index widened to -2.87%. We expect the market to trade sideways in the next session.
