Lacklustre performance in the banks – Guaranty (-2.71%), FBNH (-2.68%) and Zenith (-0.43%) pulled back the market index by -21bps. Though the loss was tapered by gains in Access (+9.40%) and Diamond (+9.47%) which was driven by news on the proposed scheme of the merger between both banks. In the same vein among the consumers, late gains in Intbrew (+1.67%) offset cross-induced decline in Unilever (-2.19%).
Market turnover fell to N1.7bn ($4.7m) buoyed by offshore crosses in NB ($0.6m) and Unilever ($0.4m). Ytd loss on the index widened to -19.96%. We expect the market to trade sideways in the next session.
