Renewed profit-taking in the shares of some blue-chip companies, especially Champion Breweries and Honeywell Flour Mill dragged the All-share Index (ASI) by 0.06 per cent.
At the close of transactions yesterday, the ASI fell by 14.28 absolute points, a 0.06 per cent dip to close at 25,027.61 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation size shed N7 billion to close at N13.056 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses 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).
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.
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 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 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.
