The equities market stumbled by -161bps, which was a deviation from its recent uptrend. This lacklustre performance is attributable to dampened investor mood on the postponement of the general elections. Market activities opened to a barrage of book overs in Unilever, Nestle, Guaranty and CAP which subsequently sent shivers of uncertainties on bargain hunting moves. NB (-9.64%) and Transcorp (-9.94%) declined on weak earnings and corporate action released respectively. All other sub-indices also retreated, led by the banks – Guaranty (-3.82%), Zenith (-3.03%), UBA (-4.37%) and FBNH (-3.55%) together with cement major Dangcem (-0.36%). Nestle (+2.24%) alongside non-financials – Presco (+10.00%) and Beta glass (9.27%) were the stars on a dark cloudy day.
Turnover fell to N3.3bn ($9.27m), boosted by offshore book overs in Unilever ($1.25m), Nestle ($1.03m), Guaranty ($1.04m) and CAP ($0.5m). Ytd return remains positive at +2.42%. We expect the market to moderate on losses in the next session.
