The Nigeria Monetary Committee maintained status quo at the end of its 2-day statutory meeting despite its recent clamour for increased bank lending to 60% of Loan to deposit ratio. The market had expected a rate cut to facilitate and buttress the stance of the CBN. The Nigerian president also released his ministerial list this afternoon which consisted majorly of recycled public officers from various states as indicated in the federal character system of the Nigerian laws.
The NSE ASI closed 1.21% higher following gains in Dangote Cement ; Nestle; Lafarge and MTN. The moves on the mentioned counters were as a result of thin liquidity while Lafarge gained c.10% on the back of strong Q2 numbers. Lafarge’s PBT also tracked well ahead of consensus 2019E PBT forecast of N15.5bn. Turnover was a meagre $5.4m. Most traded counters today were: Guaranty, Dangcem, Zenith and NB whilst block trades recorded on the day were in Guaranty ($0.6m), Zenith ($0.4m) and Dangcem ($0.3m) which involved offshore participants. Ytd loss on the index shrunk to -10.45%. We expect the profit taking activities to taper gains during the session tomorrow.
