The equities market opened the week in the red zone as the index slipped by -82bps. Market activity was in a lull for extended periods during the day and the breadth was negative on bargain hunting aversion. Mostly affected were bellwether stocks – Nestle (-4.13%), NB (-2.50%) and the banks – Zenith (-2.12%), Stanbic (-1.08%), Guaranty (-0.43%), FBNH (-0.66%) though UBA (2.00%) and Access (+1.34%) rallied late in the day alongside Dangcem (+0.11%) to reduce the deficit.
Market turnover remained flat at N1.67bn ($4.5m) buoyed by block crosses in FBNH ($0.4m) involving mixed interests whilst foreign counterparts exchanged NB ($0.3m). Ytd loss on the index widened to -19.95%. We expect the market to trade in a similar pattern tomorrow.
