Nigerian Stock Market Statistics (Friday, 23rd March, 2012)

Market Cap (N’bn) 6,720.70
Market Cap (US$’bn) 42.61
NSE All-Share Index 21,191.22
Daily Performance % (0.33)
1 Week Performance % 1.76
YTD Performance % 2.22
Daily Volume (Million) 257.02
Daily Value (N’bn) 2.64
Daily Value (US$’m) 16.74
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index lost 33 basis points. Profit taking was the bane of First Bank during the day’s proceedings as it lost maximum points and closed on offer, this trend is however likely to be short-lived with a rally expected early next week as participant anticipate Financial Year result from the company. UBA and GTBank also headed south shedding 3.2 per cent and 1.5 per cent apiece. Zenith Bank was the only top-tier bank divergent from the trend as it inching up 2.2 per cent at the close of the session. The building materials sector was skewed to the sell side today, Financial Year numbers and proposed dividend of 75k announced by Lafarge Wapco during the session dampened buying appetite and subsequently led to a 3.3 per cent loss, Ashaka Cement and CCNN were also not spared shedding 1.3 per cent apiece. Dangote Cement however held steady at N113.84.
In the food and beverages sector, Nascon recorded the lone gain with a closing price of N4.30 and a 2.3 per cent mark-up, closing bids also suggests that this trend could continue next week. On the other hand, selling pressure shaved off 0.7% and 2% respectively from Dangote Sugar and Dangote Flour.
The NSE All-Share Index gained 176 basis points this week. FCMB was a top favourite in the banking sector during the week with bullish sentiments driving it up 21.9 per cent at the close of the week, sentiments for top-tier banks was however volatile during the week leading to marginal gains for First Bank, GTBank and UBA, with week on week gains of less than 1 per cent. On the flip side, glutting offers shaved off 22.3 per cent from Union Bank while Sterling Bank and Diamond Bank lost 8.1 per cent and 2.4 per cent cumulatively. Institutional purchases firmed up the price of NB during the week to N98.00, a 3.2 per cent cumulative gain from last week. Guinness and International Breweries were however divergent with both dropping 0.4 per cent and 9.8 per cent cumulatively this week.
Growing demand for UACN during the week led to a 13.0 per cent week on week gain; closing sentiments on Friday however suggests that this rally might come to a halt next week with selling pressure likely to reverse some gains. Also on the up-tick in the sector this week were Unilever and Transcorp both bagging 6.7 per cent and 3.8 per cent cumulatively.