BUA Foods, others push Nigeria’s equities market further south

Nigeria’s equities market closed further in red on Tuesday as more investors sold shares of newly listed BUA Foods Plc, Unilever Nigeria Plc, University Press Plc and others that topped the laggards list.

Amid negative take-off to a new week, some market watchers had expected the trade pattern to filter into Tuesday session as the market continues to trade mixed despite the influx of full-year scorecard of most listed corporates.

BUA Foods Plc share price decreased most from N64.40 to N61.80, down by N2.60 or 4.04percent. It was followed by Unilever Nigeria Plc which dropped from the preceding day’s high of N13.75 to N13.15, losing 60kobo or 4.36percent, while University Press Plc decreased from N2.59 to N2.45, shedding 14kobo or 5.41percent; and UPDC which moved down from N1.06 per share to N1, losing 6kobo or 5.66percent.

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Meanwhile, Presco led the advancers after its share price rose from by N9.50 or 10percent, from N95 to N104.50; followed by NEM which rallied by 30kobo or 9.97percent, from N3.01 to N3.31.

The market’s year-to-date (ytd) positive return decreased further to 10.16percent. Nigeria’s securities traders in 4,826 deals exchanged 238,216,462 units valued at N5.085billion. GTCO, Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, Transcorp and NGX Group were the most traded equities on Tuesday.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 0.31percent from 47,203.39 points to 47,057.24 points while the value of listed stocks on the Exchange dropped by N79billion, from N25.436trillion to N25.357trillion.