Following sustained domestic-led bargain hunting in select counters, the Nigerian equities market closed modestly higher (NSEASI +0.14%) for the second consecutive day this week. Banking names remained most sought after as the NSEBNK index rose by +1.79% on the day following gains in FBNH(+8.15%); UBA(+7.64%); Access(+3.55%) and Zenith (+1.62%) amongst others. These, coupled with offshore demand-induced upticks in NB(+6.12%) and local demand in Dangsugar(+1.24%) and UACN(+0.71%) effectively offset pullbacks in index heavyweights MTNN (-2.34%) and Dangcem (-0.62%) as well as in other laggards like NASCON (-5.72%) and WAPCO(-1.02%). In all, market breadth was positive with almost 3 gainers recorded for everyone that declined.
Market turnover was decent at N3.05bn ($8.4m), buoyed by mixed interest crosses in MTNN($0.7m) and Access($0.6m) and offshore related ones in Guaranty($0.7m) and Dangcem($0.4m). The YTD return on the NSEASI contracted to -14.81%. We expect the market to maintain a similar trading pattern subsequently.
