With more weakness in the banks, the equities market ended the week on a negative note, retreating by -0.17% on the day to 28,847.81. Banking majors- Guaranty(-0.93%),UBA(-1.52%) and Zenith remained pressured by mixed sale pressure versus weak buy interests and Zenith plunged to about 8-month low at sub N20 levels before closing flat on the day. Energy major Seplat (-9.98%) was also a major drag, albeit on thin volumes. The extent of the day’s slide was however tempered by gains in consumers Guinness(+3.00%) and UACN(+2.96%) coupled with late gains in a few banks Stanbic (+5.26%); ETI(+1.98%) and Access(+1.43%).
Turnover was very low at N1.4bn ($3.8m), with crosses mostly involving offshore interests in NB ($0.4m), Zenith($0.3m) and FBNH($0.3m) as notable blocks. The index shed -1.25%w/w and ytd loss further widened to -8.22%. We expect the market to gradually find support from bargain hunting activities in the coming week.
