NSE: Profit-taking in BUA Cement, others hike investors’ losses to N7bn

The equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday ended the first trading day of the week with a decline of N7 billion on profit-taking activity in Bua Cement, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), among others.Specifically, the overall market capitalisation size shed N7 billion to close at N13.056 trillion on Monday from N13.063 trillion it opened for trading.
Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 14.28 basis points, representing a dip of 0.06 per cent to close at 25,027.61 basis points.

The downturn was impacted by loses recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; BUA Cement, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa (UBA).

Meanwhile, market breadth closed positive, with 18 gainers versus 11 losers. Cornerstone Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 9.09 per cent, to close at 60 kobo, per share. Unilever Nigeria followed with a gain 7.14 per cent to close at N12.00, while United Capital rose by 6.93 per cent to close at N3.24, per share.

Guinness Nigeria went up by 6.38 per cent, to close at N15.00, while Sunu Assurances Nigeria appreciated by five per cent to close at 21 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Champion Breweries led the losers’ chart by 9.47 per cent, to close at 86 kobo, per share. Honeywell Flour Mill followed with a decline of 8.57 per cent to close at 96 kobo, while UACN shed 4.84 per cent to close at N5.90, per share.

Mutual Benefits Assurance lost 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo, while ETI shed 4.71 per cent to close at N4.05, per share.

The total volume traded rose by 4.9 per cent to 175.326 million shares, worth N1.425 billion, and traded in 4,294 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 22.937 million shares valued at N116.287 million. Unilever Nigeria followed with 17.201 million shares worth N206.388 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank traded 13.979 million shares valued at N344.279 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 11.696 million shares valued at N21.093 million, while Jaiz Bank transacted 11.329 million shares worth N6.445 million.

On market performance for this week, analysts at United Capital Plc said “We expect to see some profit-taking activities given the bullish performance in the last two weeks. However, we expect investors to position for the possibility of interim dividend announcements by tier-one banks who are yet to publish their financial results.”

Also, analysts at Afrinvest Limited expected mixed performance this week as investors may take profit following last week’s bullish run.

“The equities market closed down today due to the sell-offs in Banking and Industrial names. While we believe the risk-off sentiment on the back of weak oil price, as well as the impact of Coronavirus, could continue to weigh in on equities market, we opine that this may be one of the best periods to start picking some of the quality names with a medium to long term investment horizon,” analysts at Investmentone Research added.