The Nigerian equities market recorded its largest dip in a single session this year, as the All Share Index tumbled by 2.39% at the close of the first session of the week. The weakness witnessed across the domestic and indeed all major global equities markets was underpinned by investors reaction to Saudi Arabia and Russia failure to agree on how to respond to plunging crude oil demand on the back of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Banking sector was severely hit as the tracker nosedived by -8.95% on account of sell pressure on Access (+10.00%), Stanbic (-10.00%), Guaranty (-9.96%), Zenithbank (-9.86%), UBA (-9.42%), ETI (-9.40%) and FBNH (-9.35%) among others. Excluding the industrial sector which finished flat, other sectors’ tracker moved in tandem with the ASI; notable laggards were Unilever (-10.00%), Conoil (-10.00%), NB (-9,93%), UACN (-9.66%), Cadbury (-9.26%) and Glaxosmith (-9.21%).
Market turnover was meager at N1.8bn ($4.98mln), boosted by mixed interest trades in Zenithbank, Guaranty, Stanbic and NB. The NSEASI ytd return tapered further to -4.45%. We expect the market to witness the same sentiment in the next session.
