Today’s trading activity on the Nigerian equities market finished on a positive note as renewed positive sentiment towards bellwethers stocks ,supported the NSEASI to appreciate by 1.24%. The northward movement in the broad index was on account of gains in communication giant MTNN (+3.04%), coupled with Wapco (+9.69%), Unilever (+2.94%). FBNH (+10.00%) led the advancers in the banking space as the commercial lender proposed a dividend payment of 38 kobo per share, which is about 90% growth on 20 kobo paid in the preceding year. Other gainers in the banks were Sterlnbank (+9.91%), Fidelitybk (-9.84%), UBA (+9.00%), Zenithbank (+7.47%) and Guaranty (+0.84%)
Market turnover improved to 4.9bn ($13.04 mln), boosted by mixed interest trades Guaranty, Nestle, MTNN and Zenithbank. The NSEASI ytd return tapered to -22.04%. We expect sentiment for stocks to remain broadly tepid, though the renewed interests on select blue-chip stocks may be sustained in the nest session.
