Nigeria’s stock market opens week on a negative note

Nigeria’s stock market opened this week on a negative note as investors moved to take profit in value counters like BUA Cement, UACN, ETI, Zenith Bank and UBA.

The market’s benchmark performance index –the NSE All Share Index (ASI) dipped on Monday August 10 by 0.06percent to 25,027.61 points while the value of listed equities closed lower at N13.055trillion as against day open high of 25,041.89 points and N13.063 trillion respectively. This implies that investors lost about N8billion.

Afrinvest research analysts anticipate a mixed performance this week “as investors react to more corporate earnings releases.” However, the analysts expect to see some profit-taking activities “given the bullish performance last week”. Stocks had gained about N180billion last week.

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Also, United Capital research analysts said they 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-1 banks who are yet to publish their financial results,” United Capital analysts added.

The market’s negative return year-to-date (YtD) increased to -6.76percent. In 4,294 deals, investors exchanged 175,326,302 units valued at N1.425billion. FBN Holdings, Unilever, GTBank, Fidelity and Jaiz Bank were actively traded stocks. BUA Cement stock price decreased most, from N39.5 to N38.95, losing 55kobo or 1.39percent. UACN also lost its value from N6.2 to N5.9, down 30kobo or 4.84percent. ETI decreased from N4.25 to N4.05, down by 20kobo or 4.71percent. Zenith Bank also decreased from N16.9 to N16.8, losing 10kobo or 0.59percent, while UBA decreased from N6.55 to N6.45, losing 10kobo or 1.53percent.

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By Iheanyi Nwachukwu • August 10, 2020

Iheanyi Nwachukwu

Iheanyi Nwachukwu, is a creative content writer with almost two decades journalism experience writing on banking, finance, capital markets, and tax. The multiple awards winning journalist is Assistant Editor, BusinessDay. Iheanyi holds BSc Degree in Economics from Imo State University; Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Management from University of Lagos. Iheanyi has attended several work-related trainings including (i) Advanced Writing and Reporting Skills (Pan African University, Lagos); (ii) News Agency Journalism (Indian Institute of Mass Communication {IIMC}, New Delhi, India); and (iii) Capital Markets Development and Regulations (International Law Institute {ILI} of Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA). Other trainings Iheanyi attended include: Economic/Political Risk Analysis (By Thomson Reuters Foundation); International Financial Journalism (IFJ) (By PMA Media Training, UK); Effective Business Writing Skills (By Phillips Consulting); Reporting on Corporate Governance (By International Finance Corporation (IFC) & Thomson Reuters Foundation UK); etc. In addition, he has participated in high-level economy & markets events in Dubai, South Africa, Morocco, and other African countries like Zambia, Ghana and Gambia.