The equities market shed -17bps which was in part, correction of the leap during the previous trading session. Dangcem (-0.89%) retreated to lead the losers alongside tier 1 banks: Guaranty (-3.03%), ETI (-7.85%), Zenith (-1.91%) and FBNH (3.38%). Market optimism was tapered during the day on profit taking activities and cautious buying. Decline in Unilever and Dangflour (-3.61%) offset marginal gains in Nestle (+0.31%) which largely pulled the subsector index into the negative territory by -58bps. On the flip side, aggressive buying into the close in telecoms giant MTNN (+2.60%) salvaged crucial points to mask the extent of the weakness in the market. Bargain hunting continued in UBA (+5.60%) whilst Stanbic (+1.78%) rose on crosses late in the session
Market turnover fell to N5.9bn ($16.3m), dominated by mixed crosses in MTNN ($3.8m). Ytd loss on the index widened to -0.56%. We expect the market to trade sideways in the next session.
