(Greenwich Merchant Bank): Retreating from yesterday’s gains, the local bourse finished the day slightly lower, indicating a 0.04% drop in the NSE-ASI, while the YtD return settled at -3.9%. This was due to selloffs across GUARANTY (-1.8%), FBNH (-1.4%), and MANSARD (-5.1%).
Similarly, the activity level tapered as the volume and value of traded units declined by 19.7% and 36.4% respectively. GUARANTY led the trade charts with 34.2mn units (19.3%) and NGN957.8mn (35.8%) in value. Market breadth, however, settled at equilibrium, with twelve (12) gainers and losers apiece.
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Across the NSE sectors, the Oil & Gas (+1.3%) sector was the sole gainer, while the Insurance (-1.0%), Banking (-0.4%) and Consumer Goods (-0.0%) sectors all lagged in their performance, with the exception of the Industrial Goods sector, which closed flat.
The mood in the market was mildly negative, underpinned by sell pressures in the banking space. As a result, we maintain our expectation that the underlying negative sentiment would persist.
