Naija Lo Wa

Courtesy of FSDH, Stanbic IBTC, and Lead Capital, here is the summary of the NSE for the week ended November 12th 2010 as well the market reports:

+ The NSE All-Share Index gained 229 bps cumulatively this week.

+ Bullish activities were very prominent in most of the rescued banks’ stocks this week; this is due partly to the announcement in respect of AMCON modalities to be released in the coming week. As a result the likes of FinBank, Wema Bank, Oceanic Bank, Union Bank and Bank PHB all recorded gains between 14.5% & 21.0%. However, the top tier banks were not left out in the bullish activities, First Bank appreciated by 5.6%, Zenith Bank 9.0% and UBA 9.5%, while GTBank closed the week unchanged.

+ In the food and beverages sector, bearish sentiments dominated proceedings this week, this translated to losses of more than 2.0% for Cadbury, NBC and Flour Mills. On the flip side, Nascon, Dangote Sugar and Dangote Flour recorded gains of between 1.7% and 6.0%.

+ Activities in the insurance sub sector improved slightly this week and this led to price appreciation for some of the stocks in the sector; Niger Insurance gathered 22.8%, and this was followed by Law Union & Rock with a 7.4% gain, while Cornerstone inched up by 4.0%. On the other hand, Custodian & Allied, Prestige and NEM all shed above 4.0% each.

·         In the banking sector; last minute sales of over 10m units of Oceanic Bank shares by some participants could be an indicator that the bullish run on the stock might be coming to an end soon as participants seek to lock in gains, other fringe players remained bullish however with robust unsatisfied bids at the close of the session. On the flip side market forces sent Access Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Diamond Bank, GTBank and UBA southwards today, while Zenith Bank inched up by marginal points.

·         In the building materials sector, the bears continued to hold sway over Dangote Cement, trading fully on offer throughout proceedings. Ashaka Cement and CCNN were not divergent to this trend shedding 0.7% and 3.5% respectively. Lafarge Wapco however, bagged marginal points.

·         In other sectors, an upward review of prices at the last quarter of the session led to a marginal gain for NB, on the flip side International Breweries shed full points with active demand at the lowest price for the day.

Find below, a summary of the activities for the week ended today:

·         The NSE All-Share Index shed 97 basis points this week, the market was relatively quiet and price volatility for most stocks was minimal.

·         In the banking sector aside distressed banks, most companies traded around current support levels, with sustained demand matching offers leading to marginal gains and losses. FCMB and Zenith Bank were up by 10.1% and 4.0% respectively, while Skye Bank, UBA and First Bank lost 0.7%, 4.4% and 2.6% respectively. Sellers holding back on offers for distressed banks continued this week, subsequently top gainers in the sector were Bank PHB, Afribank, Oceanic Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Unity Bank and Wema Bank with gains in excess of 25.0% apiece.

·         The breweries sector did not diverge from the current trend, bids for NB were at the lower end of the market for most of the week, an upward review on Friday however led to a 1.2% appreciation in its share price, the current support level however appears to be N76, Guinness also traded around the N180  price band for most of the session this week.

·         Bearish sentiments dominated the building materials sector this week, with only Lafarge Wapco diverging from this trend, as robust bids at the N40 mark curbed any price slide. Dangote Cement lost 5.0% as investors seeking exits outweighed current demand in the market. CCNN and Ashaka Cement were also not spared shedding 8.1% and 3.5% respectively.