Late movement in Seplat (+10.00%), bargain hunting in Stanbic (+5.13%), Guaranty (+2.41%), Access (+2.56%) and Zenith (+0.54%) marked the end of the trading session for the year 2019 as the broad market index closed +0.87% up. Aggressive buying in index heavyweight; Dangcem to limit up levels late in the session was quickly countered by offers as the stock retreated to post a +35bps return on the day, which had minimal effect on the market performance whilst Lafarge (+9.29%) also enjoyed a late surge. However, declines in FBNH (-3.15%), NB (-1.26%) and UBN ( -2.44%) tapered the gains.
Market turnover was decent at $13.9m, dominated by trades in Dangcem ($6m) among other block trades. Full year returns on the NSEASI stood at -14.60% making Nigeria one of the worst performing markets in the world in 2019. We expect a slow start in 2020 as the market find new equilibrium on its year end gains.
