Gains in newly listed heavyweight, MTNN (+1.60%) could not salvage the index from decline as the recent downward trend continued. The NSEASI declined by 26bps driven by retraction in oil & gas major, Seplat (-6.67%) and cement major, Dangcem (-0.58%). Intbrew (-9.42%) succumbed to selling pressure alongside CCNN (-6.83%). Market sentiments remained broadly subdued across board as the banks shed some weight on losses in ETI (-6.11%), Guaranty (1.04%) and FCMB (-4.63%) though FBNH (+0.90%) and UBA (+0.88%) masked the extent of the negative performance.
Market turnover closed at N2.6bn ($7.3m) and was dominated by block trades in Dangcem ($2.2m) which involved mixed interests whilst locals participated in MTNN ($1.4m) cross. Ytd loss on the index grew to -11.17% whilst wtd returns was flat. We expect the market to maintain the same trading pattern next week.