The lull in equities persisted today and the index retreated by -0.34% to 42,244.22 as weakness permeated most names. The banking space was most affected as sell-offs in UBN(-5.15%); FCMB (-4.33%); FBNH(-1.64%); UBA (-1.26%) and Zenith (-1.01%) took a toll, whilst telecoms heavyweight MTNN(-1.34%) also retreated on some cross trades, while WAPCO(-3.75%) and Intbrew were the laggards amongst the cement and brewers counters. Nonetheless, upticks were recorded in a few other majors-Nestle(+1.43%) on a cross trade; NGXGroup(+1.06%) and GTCO (+0.39%).
Market turnover was low at N2.7bln ($6.5m mln) thanks to block trades in UACN; Nestle and MTNN. The YTD return on the NGX ASI stood at +4.90%. We expect the market to maintain a similar lacklustre trading pattern in the coming session.
