The rebound in the equities market weakened today as investors curbed bargain hunting after 4 days of gains. Blue chips weighed heavily on the index – Dangcem(-1.42%) and energy major Seplat(-3.25%) both dipped on weak demand. Investors also slowed buying in financials allowing banks such as Guaranty(-2.02%), Zenith(-2.70%), Access(-1.38%) and UBA(-1.35%) fall on light volumes. Major brewers – Intbrew(-4.13%) and NB(-0.85%) dropped on risk aversion.
The renewed apathy caused turnover to fall to N3.8bn ($13.9m) 42% below this year’s average of $24m; there were notable trades of 17.2mln Unilever ($3.3m) involving a domestic buyer and 15mln Guaranty ($2.2m). Today’s -0.96% loss marginally cut weekly gain to +5.03%; ytd return closed at +1.11%, we expect the market to trade sideways next week on a mix of bargain hunting and FM apathy.
