A breathe of fresh air in the equities market as the ASI appreciated by 1.09% to close in the green zone. Increased positive sentiments towards Nestle (+7.03%) and ETI (+9.60%) coupled with gains in MTNN (+2.56%) mostly influenced the performance on the broad index. Activity was still largely dominated by offshore interests, although we saw interest from local non- institutional investors as well. Other gainers in the session include PZ (+7.27%), Dangsugar (+5.49%), UACN (+2.86%). Though the market breath closed on a positive note, however, there were few laggards on the day such as FO(-10.00%), Okomuoil (-9.18%), Access (-4.62%), Intrew (-4.17%).
Market Turnover improved to N4.5bln ($12.5mln) and was boosted by crosses Zenithbank ($1.2mln), Access ($0.9mln), Guaranty ($1.5mln) which inolved mixed interests. Ytd returns moderated to -12.97%. We expect the market to maintain the same trading pattern in the absence of incentives.
