The persistent spread of coronavirus and weak crude oil prices sent the ASI into the negative region, as the broad market benchmark slumped by 2.43% to close at 21,330.79 pts in today’s session. Weak performance in market heavyweight MTNN (-10.00%) , coupled with downward trend in the banking sector, largely underpinned the southward movement in the ASI. Specifically, UBA (-6.54%), Access (-6.47%), Zenithbank (-5.16%), Guaranty (-2.98%) and FBNH (-1.23%) finished lower in the banking space
Market turnover was meager at N1.9bn ($5.18mln), boosted by mixed interest trades in Zenithbank, Guaranty and MTNN. The NSEASI ytd return dipped further to -20.53%. We expect the market to witness the same sentiment in the next session.