Sustained demand in the banking space on earnings expectation and some bargain hunting, ensured that the NSEASI maintained a clean sheet of positive run for the week. The market index rose by +0.45% (+1.41% w/w ) to close at 25,041.89. The NSEBNK index was up by +2.38%, as sector majors Zenith (+1.20%); UBA (+1.55%); Guaranty (+2.53%); Fidelity(+4.05%); FCMB(+6.32%) and UBN (+8.00%) all advanced. Top brewer Guinness(+4.44%) also remained upbeat amid contracted sale pressure, alongside Dangsugar(+3.48%) and Okomu (+2.74%) which rose on a block trade. In all the market breath was positive and muted the only major price laggard for the day -UACN (-9.49%).
Turnover was however less impressive at N2.01bn ($5.2m), and the only major block trade was recorded in Okomu ($0.5m) by mixed interests. The negative ytd return on the NSEASI further moderated to -6.71%. We expect the market to trade with similar sentiments in the coming week.
