There was no major Santa Rally for the local bourse today ahead of the Christmas Holidays as the market index barely salvaged a +0.08% uptick on the day to close at 42,262.85 points. UBN(9.90%) continued its impressive run on local speculations, driven by news of impending acquisition of majority stakes by Titan Trust Bank, while PZ(+7.20%), Fidelity(+1.96%) and Zenith (+0.83%) always gained some points. On the flip side however were a number of other banking counters like Sterlnbank(-2.03%); FBNH(-1.71%); Access(-1.67%); UBA(-0.63%) and GTCO(-0.58%) which retreated amid weak demand.
In all, activities levels were low today and market turnover closed at N0.91bln ($2.2mln). The NSEASI shed -0.21% w/w, while its YTD return stood at +4.95%. Barring any major yearend surprises post the Christmas break, we expect the market to maintain a similar trading pattern in the coming week.
