Bears Halt Rally On Equities Market As Investors Lose N307bn

The Nigerian equities market yesterday halted a six-day bullish streak due to profit-taking in BUA Foods Plc and 36 others, dragging investors’ investments lower by N307 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI) shed 485.01 points, representing a loss of 0.40 per cent to close at 120,772.68 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N307 billion to close at N 76.454 trillion.

Also, the overall downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; BUA Foods, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), Oando, Cadbury Nigeria and Guinness Nigeria.

On market outlook, Afrinvest Limited said, “we expect the local bourse to extend the negative performance, driven by continued profit taking activities.”

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, closed negative as 32 stocks gained, while 37 lost. Unilever Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N95.15, 22 kobo and N68.20 respectively, per share.

Honeywell Flour Mills followed with a gain of 10 per cent to close at N51.70, per share. NEIMETH International Pharmaceuticals rose by 9.98 per cent to close at N5.40, while UACN increased by 9.97 per cent to close at N38.05, per share.

CAP rose by 9.92 per cent to close at N47.10, while Prestige Assurance rose by 9.80 per cent to close at N1.12, per share.

On the other hand, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N2.07, per share. NAHCO followed with a decline of 9.99 per cent to close at N91.00, while Oando declined by 9.96 per cent to close at N61.90, per share.

ABC Transport depreciated by 8.92 per cent to close at N2.45, while Champion Breweries declined by 8.34 per cent to close at N10.00, per share.

Meanwhile, the total volume traded rose by 3.63 per cent to 892.971 billion units, valued at N18.226 billion, and exchanged in 25,375 deals. Transactions in the shares of Ellah Lakes topped the activity chart with 113.499 million shares valued at N851.090 million. Access Holdings followed with 76.192 million shares worth N1.738 billion, while Caverton Offshore Support Group traded 64.862 million shares valued at N334.833 million.

Japaul Gold & Venture traded 61.565 million shares valued at N126.663 million, while Zenith Bank sold 60.301 million shares worth N3.471 billion.