The Nigerian equities market closed on a bearish note as the NGXASI edged lower by -1.66% to settle at 38,507.33 point in the day. Weakness in telecommunication giant Airtelafri (-10.00%), coupled with profit taking in some consumer goods stocks; Okomuoil (-9.44%), Presco (-2.50%), Uacn (-2.06%), Flourmill (-1.00%), Nascon (-0.34%) and Guinness (-0.17%) accounted for the day’s performance. Also Stanbic (- 2.44%), Fcmb (-0.96%), Uba (-0.70%) and Afriprud (- 3.97%) all declined in the session. On the contrary, Mtnn (+0.18%),Berger (+6.72%), Access (+3.05%), ETI (+1.92%), Unilever (+1.56%), Zenithbank (+0.86%) and Cadbury (+0.62%) all advanced.
Market turnover was N3.65bln ($8.82mln), boosted by trades in Zenithbank, Mtnn and Access. The YTD return on the NGX index dipped to -4.38%. We expect the market to maintain a similar trading pattern in the coming session.