Bearish sentiments from renewed sale pressure across most sectors dominated the equities market today, leaving the index 59bps lower at 31,069.37. Activities were also lacklustre, save for block trades in a few counters. The banks were the major drags, led by UBA-(5.30%), Stanbic(-2.33%), Zenith(-2.19%) and Guaranty(-1.25%), supported by pullbacks in Brewers NB(-3.33%) and Guinness(-3.96%) on cross trades, alongside UACN(-2.86%) which contracted amid news of an impending capital raise of about N16b ($44m) likely through a Rights issue. Cement and energy names were also not spared as Dangcem(-0.15%), WAPCO(-5.61%) and Oando (-9.68%) declined. Gains in MTN (+0.37%) and FO (+2.23%) did little to offset the general negative market breadth on the day.
Market turnover fell to N2.7bn ($7.6m), dominated by offshore crosses in Guaranty ($1.8m); UBA ($0.7m) and Dangcem ($0.6m), while Custody($0.4m) mainly involved locals. The index lost-1.25% w/w, while Ytd loss widened to -0.59%, though MTD was strongly positive (+6.55%) thanks to the MTN listing. We expect the market to resume cautiously in the next month.
