The Nigerian equities market recorded its first southward movement this year as the All Share Index bowed to sell pressure to close down by -1.18% on account of profit taking in major names. The Index was overwhelmed by unimpressive performance in the banking and consumer goods space. Specifically, UBA (-5.17%), FBNH (-3.45%), Zenithbank (-1.84%) closed down in the banking space while NB (-8.83%) finished lower in the consumer goods space. Other notable laggards includes MTNN (-2.66%), Dangcem (-1.16%) and Buacement (-0.13%). On the contrary, investors showed positive sentiment in Betaglass (+9.67%), FO (+5.62%), Cadbury (+5.26%), Flourmill (+3.00%) and Guaranty (+0.32%) finished stronger at the close of the session.
Market turnover closed at N6.5bn ($17.90mln), buoyed by mixed interest in Zenithbank ($1.2 mln), Access ($0.3 mln) and domestic interest in Dangcem ($1.5 mln). The NSEASI ytd return moderated to +9.09%. We expect the market to maintain this trading pattern in the next session.
