The NSEASI rose by +1.98% on the back of aggressive buying in Guaranty (+9.51%) which spurred its peers – Zenith (+7.24%), UBA (+2.08%) and Access (+1.61%) into a rally. Market sentiments improved early in the session due to bargain hunting activities in the banks which subsequently trickled across board in major counters. Dangcem (+1.06%) and Nestle (+0.68%) also joined the bandwagon of advancers late in the day. On the flip side, Fidelity (-2.08) led the pack of a few decliners.
Market turnover rose to N5.9bn ($16.2m) which was dominated by offshore crosses in Zenith ($1.89m) whilst UBA ($1.65m) involved mixed interests. Ytd returns closed flat at +0.01%. We expect the market to shed some weight on profit taking activities.