Anxiety surrounding delay in the announcement of Saturday’s presidential elections pulled back the equities market index by -92bps. Market participants’ apathy persisted on cloudiness relating to impact of the polls on the economy. Nestle (-4.43%) faltered on a tiny volume cross post midday to lead the decliners alongside the banks – UBN (-8.28%), FBNH (-3.61%), UBA (-2.44%), Zenith (-0.77%), Access (-1.57%) and Guaranty (-0.13%) though ETI (+9.85%) advanced. On the flip side, a rally in Afriprud (+10.00%) on its earnings released alongside gains in Oando (+9.85%), Dangflour (+9.05%) and Guinness (+3.15%) tapered the day’s loss.
Market turnover fell to N2.4bn ($6.7m) buoyed by block offshore crosses in ETI ($0.4m) and Diamondb ($0.2m). Ytd gains on the index fell to +3.32%. We expect the market to find stronger support level in the next session upon the conclusion of electoral result collation and announcement of Saturday’s presidential elections.
