The Nigerian equities market reversed on its previous losses to close up by +1.11% in today’s trading session. 

Market breadth index closed positive as 25 stocks gained against 19 stocks that declined. 

SKYEBANK (+10.00%) topped the gainers’ chart while FIRSTALUM (-9.09%) was the worst performer. 

The most actively traded stock was SKYEBANK (+10.00%) with c.113million units of shares worth c.N122m. 

Sector Performance

·         NSE Banking Index: Performance was inched up by +2.74% on the back of the gains in SKYEBANK (+10.00%), FCMB (+9.80%), DIAMONDBNK (+7.78%) and UBA (+6.28%). 

·         NSE Consumer Goods Index: Closed up by +0.96%, largely driven by the gains in DANGFLOUR (+4.97%), FLOURMILL (+2.86%), NESTLE (+1.89%) and NB (+0.94%) 

·         NSE Industrial Index: Gained +0.19% on account of the gains in BETAGLAS (+4.95%) 

·         NSE Oil and Gas Index: Shed -0.29% on account of the decline in  FO (-1.75%), TOTAL (-0.43%) and ETERNA (-0.35%) 

Earnings Release

Nil

Market Insight

The Nigeria equities market bucked the negative trend in the last few trading sessions to close in the green today following positive investor sentiments across most of the sectors. Going forwards, we expect the market to trade sideways even as  investors continue to take position in this earnings seasons. We also expect sentiments in the global equity market to determine market performance in the near term. However, we believe previous sell-off  may present decent entry opportunities into our quality names for investors with a medium to longer term horizon. 

TOP PICKS: ACCESS, DANGCEM, GUARANTY, NB, NESTLE, UBA & ZENITHBANK