BUA Cement, Nigerian Breweries, others cause market to open week in green

Nigeria’s equities market opened this week on a positive note, rising by 0.97percent on Monday as buy-side activities improved on the Bourse.

Investors were seen buying stocks like BUA Cement, Nigerian Breweries, and others moved the market higher.

Stock investors gained N355billion at the close of trading, while the market’s year-to-date (YtD) positive return increased to +30.93percent.

The market which started this week with All-Share Index (ASI) and equities capitalisation at 66,454.57 points and N36.510trillion respectively rose to 67,101.33 points and N36.865trillion.

BUA Cement stock price rose most from N94 to N103.40, up by N9.40 or 10percent. CHI also made the top gainers league, rising from N1.02 to N1.12, up by 10kobo or 9.80percent.

Also, Nigerian Breweries went up from N38.50 to N42, up by N3.50 or 9.09percent. John Holt rallied from N1.48 to N1.60, adding 12kobo or 8.11percent, while SUNU Assurances increased from 97kobo to N1.04, adding 7kobo or 7.22percent.

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In 6,911 deals, investors exchanged 268,663,822 shares valued at N3.463billion. ABC Transport, Access Corporation, Oando, UBA and Transcorp were the most traded stocks on Monday.

“We expect the positive mood in the market to persist as key market indicators (market turnover, volume traded, and market breadth) suggest that buying activities have improved. In addition, we note that some bellwether tickers (including GTCO, Dangote Cement, MTNN) are currently trading at low levels relative to our target prices,” according to Lagos-based Meristem research analysts.

“We believe this presents attractive entry points for investors which could spur bargain hunting activities. However, we anticipate that the T-bills auction during the week can potentially cause a mild flow of funds from the equities market. Overall, we expect the overriding sentiment in the market to be positive this week,” the analysts at Meristem added.

“We expect the renewed buy-interests across the equities market to linger. We anticipate investors taking positions ahead of the third-quarter (Q3) 2023 earnings season as corporates are set to release impressive financials. Hence, we recommend cherry-picking activities around fundamentally sound stocks with solid performance,” said research analysts at Lagos-based United Capital.