Declines in some market heavyweights ensured the index ended the final trading day of the week in red (-0.39%), despite relative pick up in activities levels induced by block trades and investors’ positive reaction to Access Bank’s impressive H1 2019 numbers. Dangcem (-1.27%) was a major drag, though on thin volumes, alongside consumers Glaxosmith (-9.49%), Nestle(-3.60%) and Unilever(-0.81%),which muted UACN(+10.00%)’s consecutive positive run. The banking index was however positive, buoyed by post-result gains in Access(+6.98%) and into the close gains in Zenith (+3.75%), though ETI(-7.14%), Guaranty(-1.32%) and UBA(-0.81%) all retreated. In all, market breath was flattish with gainers and losers almost equally matched across board.
Market turnover was impressive at N6.4bn ($17.6m), boosted by block trades in Guaranty($8.8m), Zenith($1m) and Access($0.6m), all involving offshore interests as well as in MTNN ($3.6m) by locals. The market index shed -1.38%w/w, while the Ytd loss widened to -13.63%. We expect the market to trade mainly sideways in the coming week.
