As trading resumed on the NGX today post the Christmas holidays, the bears held the upper hand and the market index dipped by -1.08% to close at 41,807.10 points. It was not all gloom however thanks to bits of improved demand and subsequent gains in some of the banking counters led by UBN(+9.91%); Access (+1.69%); Zenith (+1.43%) and GTCO(+0.97%) as well as upticks in NGXGroup (+2.11%); UACN (+1.05%) from a cross trade and also Unilever (+0.37%). These were however offset by weakness in telecoms giant MTNN(-0.38%), alongside other major counters like BUACEM(-10.00%); PZ (-8.96%); ETI (-2.81%); Oando (-2.17%) and Intbrew (-1.05%). In another development, the shares of NEM Insurance Plc were released from full suspension following the completion of its share capital reconstruction exercise, which saw the total issued and fully paid up shares of the company reduced from 10.03b ordinary shares of 50 Kobo each to 5.02b ordinary shares of N1.00 each.
Market turnover was low at N1.5bln ($3.6mln). The YTD return on the NGXASI narrowed to +3.82%. We expect the market to maintain a similar trading pattern in the coming session.
