Equities Market
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (NSE ASI) appreciated in value to end the week. The NSE ASI appreciated to close the week at 30,728.91 points, up from the previous week’s figure of 29,551.84 points. The NSE ASI recorded an appreciation of 3.98%, compared with the appreciation of 3.05% recorded in the preceding week. The appreciation in the index was on account of the gains recorded in the Banking, Insurance and Manufacturing & Allied subsectors; despite the marginal depreciation in the Petroleum Marketing sub-sector. The market capitalization also appreciated to close the week at N6,797.76bn (approximately US$52.19mn). It appreciated by 3.98%, compared with the appreciation of 3.05% recorded in the preceding week.

The share prices of Oceanic (Up 15.63% to N11.69), Intercontinental Bank (Up 15.57% to N11.21), Stanbic-IBTC (Up 13.31% to N9.45), GT Bank (Up 13.06% to N12.47), Diamond (Up 9.85% to N7.81), Zenith (Up 9.42% to N22.19), First Bank (Up 6.20% to N22.10), FCMB (Up 5.56% to N5.70), Access Bank (Up 2.64% to N6.60), Skye (Up 5.00% to N7.56), Union Bank (Up 2.88% to N16.45), and UBA (Up 2.08% to N11.79) were up while Bank PHB’s (Down 1.11% to N8.90) fell.
In the  Manufacturing & Allied sector, the share prices of Ashakacem (Up 15.71% to N16.20), PZ Cussons (Up 10.20% to N9.72), UPDC (Up 8.92% to N23.20), Unilever (Up 5.70% to N9.09), Nigerian Breweries (Up 4.56% to N38.96), Dangote flour (Up 4.70% to N12.24), Guinness (Up 3.64% to N90.60), and Lafarge WAPCO (Up 3.20% to N25.80) rose while Dangote Sugar’s (Down 0.06% to N15.50).

In the Insurance sector N.E.M (Up 15.00% to N1.38), Lasaco (Up 14.93% to N1.54), AIICO (Up 14.71% to N1.56), Standard Alliance (Up 12.77% to N1.59), Goldlink (Up 11.49% to N0.97), Cornerstone (Up 10.67% to N1.66), Linkage (Up 8.06% to N0.67), Mutual Benefits (Up 6.82% to N1.41), Custodian & Allied (Up 4.55% to N2.99) Law Union (Up 5.16% to N3.26), and Intercontinental WAPIC (4.79% to N3.28) were up while the share prices of both Prestige (Down 4.87% to N6.25) and International Energy (Down 1.42% to N2.09) fell.

The other top gainers for the week were Japaul (Up 15.48% to N3.58), Daar Comms (Up 15.26% to N2.87), BAGCO (Up 15.25% to N3.25), Chams (Up 14.88% to N2.47) and Aso Savings (Up 14.84% to N1.47); while the other top losers for the week were Big Treat (Down 13.90% to N2.54), May & Baker (Down 11.20% to N5.87), Afprint (Down 9.28% to N2.15), Great Nigerian Insurance (Down 9.25% to N1.57) and Universal Insurance (Down 7.69% to N0.72).
Overall, fifty-seven (57) stocks recorded gains in their share prices; thirty-six (36) stocks recorded losses, while one hundred and sixteen (116) stocks closed the week unchanged.

Money Market
Available data showed that the 7-day NIBOR at the inter-bank market transactions increased to close the week at 13.67%, a 109 basis points increase from the previous week’s figure of 12.58%. The 90-day NIBOR also increased to close the week at 16.96%, a 100 basis points increase from the previous week’s figure of 15.96%.

There were no activities at both the Secondary and Primary Markets for the Treasury Bills during the week. However, the previous week transaction showed that at the 91-day Treasury bill auction held, a total of N5bn worth of bill was offered and allotted; N23.82bn was subscribed, leading to a subscription level of 476.45%. The bill was issued at a discount rate of 5%, a 44 basis point decrease from the previous week’s figure of 5.44%. A total of N5bn worth of matured bills was repaid into the system, resulting in a nil flow from this segment of the market.

At the 182-day Treasury bill auction, a total of N10bn worth of bill was offered and allotted. A total of N34.05bn was subscribed, leading to a subscription level of 340.51%. The bill was issued at a discount rate of 5.20%, a 54 basis point decrease from the previous week’s figure of 5.74%. A total of N10bn worth of matured bills was paid into this segment of the market, resulting in a nil flow from this segment of the market.

A total of N5.4bn worth of Reverse Repo was withdrawn from the system from this segment of the market. At the secondary segment of the market, a total of N46bn worth of matured bills was repaid into the system. Cumulatively, the money market witnessed a total outflow of about N20.40bn through the government securities market.
The Bond Market and the Foreign Exchange market were officially closed for the year.

The value of the Naira against the US Dollar remained the same at the official market, while it depreciated at the parallel market. At the official market, the value of the naira remained at N131.25/US$1, same as the previous week. At the inter-bank market, the value of the naira depreciated by N3.35k to close the week at N139.65/US$1, compared with the previous week’s figure of N136.30/US$1. As at the time of this report there was no data obtained from the parallel market.

Over-the-Counter Market for FGN Bond
A turnover of 115mn units worth N116.3bn in 809 deals was recorded during the week, in contrast to a total of 275.71mn units valued at N267.64bn exchanged in 1,950 deals during the week ended Thursday, December 11, 2008. The most active bond (measured by turnover volume) was the 5th FGN Bond 2011 Series 3 with a traded volume of 15.3mn units valued at N15.7bn in 107 deals. This was followed by the 4th FGN Bond 2010 series 14 with a traded volume of 10.8mn units valued at N10.61bn in 89 deals. Twenty-three (23) of the available forty-one (41) FGN Bonds were traded during the week, compared to twenty-four (24) in the preceding week.