The equities market recovered from yesterday’s decline as the index closed +66bps higher, thanks mostly to late gains in the banks. Guaranty (+3.75%), Zenith(+1.69%) UBA (+6.67) and FBNH (+2.7%) were rallied into the close, while Stanbic (+1.09%) also ticked up on thin volumes. On the flip side, Lafarge (-4.48%) declined on news surrounding its rights issue pricing; Dangcem remained flat and consumer majors – NB (-0.5%), Unilever (-1.0%) also contracted.
Market turnover, however, declined to N2.1bn ($5.8mm) though buoyed by offshore crosses FBNH ($0.9m) and ETI ($0.5m). Ytd loss on the index shrunk to -18.92%. We expect the market to trade sideways in the next session.
