The equities market retreated by -48bps, aided by late decline in index heavyweight Dangcem (-0.28%) alongside the banks – UBN (-3.57%), UBA (-2.44%) Sterlnbank (-5.66%) and Access (-0.74%). The market witnessed faint optimism earlier in the session on sustained buying though on low volumes. However, late selling across various counters exposed the weakness among the buyers. On the flip side, renewed buying interests in Dangsugar (+1.84%) salvaged some points among the consumers which was offset by decline in Dangflour (-4.41%).
Turnover was unimpressive at N2.1bn ($5.8m) boosted by offshore crosses in Nestle ($0.5m) and Guaranty ($0.5m). Ytd loss on the index extended to -10.00%. We expect the market to trade sideways in the next session.