The market closed on a positive note this week as the NSE All-Share Index advanced from 22,110.91 to 22,741.06, a 285bps cumulative increase.
· H1 results announced by some banks, during the week, spurred buying sentiments, leading to cumulative gains of 8.3% from Diamond Bank and 5.6% from UBA; also on the up-tick this week were, Union Bank and Sterling Bank both, recording weekly gains of 22.1% and 7.8% respectively. We anticipate this positive trend in the banking sector to continue next week, as other companies in the sector announce their H1 numbers.
· Speculators seeking to book profit mid-week, trimmed off 2.3% from Dangote Flour; Nestle, Honeywell Flour, Flour Mills and Cadbury also caved to bearish sentiments during the week, shedding between 0.6% and 6.6% at the close of the week. Dangote Sugar, NASCON and 7-up, were however divergent to the bearish sentiments in the sector, rallying with cumulative gains of 10.5%, 2.2% and 5.0% respectively.