The equities market resumed trading activities in a lacklustre manner as the index dipped by -1.15% to kick-start the New Year. Market activity levels appeared uneventful post-holidays as buyers proceeded with caution. Blue chips – Dangcem (-1.95%), NB (-8.42%) and Nestle (-0.67%) retracted though masked by gains in Intbrew (+3.28%) and the banks – UBA (+1.30%), Guaranty – (+0.15%) and FBNH (+0.63%).
Market turnover fell abysmally to N1.5bn ($4.3m), boosted by offshore crosses in Access ($0.3m) whilst Intbrew ($0.2m) involving mixed counterparts. We expect the market to remain soft on the back of cautious bargain hunting.