The equities market tanked by -35bps which was largely due to a decline in market heavyweight, Dangcem (-1.59%). Oil & gas major – Seplat also faltered alongside a late slump in the banks – Guaranty (-1.14%) and Zenith (-1.13%) though masked by gains in Stanbic (+0.99%) and FBNH (+1.33%). Access (+2.60%) recovered from yesterday’s reaction to the news of its proposed rights issue post-merger whilst Diamond (+9.65%) continued to maximise daily gains. The consumers – Nestle (+1.38%) and NB (+2.35%) also advanced on the day.
Market turnover fell to N4.1bn ($11.23bn) buoyed by block crosses in Zenith ($2.6m) involving mixed interests whilst offshore counterparts exchanged NB ($1m) and WAPCO ($1.1m). Ytd loss on the index widened to -19.71%. We expect the market to trade sideways in the next session.