Courtesy of Meristem Securities, here is the weekly report for the week ended Friday, October 24th 2008:

Investing Potentials in a Bear Raided Market
As expectation for resurgence swells while bearish moments roll by, mixed feelings and reactions from investors trail activity as market nears bottom. The week opened and ended with trading pointing southward. NSE All Share Index plummeted 2.50 percent to settle at 41,884.10 point. Number of listed shares increased with the listing of 4.2 billion shares of Abbey Building Society and supplementary offer of Custodian & Allied Insurance Plc which prop up total market capitalisation of the 212 listed equities by 0.22 percent to stand at N9.188 trillion.

A hitch in activities was noted as total volume for the week plunged by 2.31 percent culminating into trading in shares of over 987 million with a market value of N8.44 billion in 19,886 deals in contrast with 1.01 million shares valued at N7.56 billion executed in 26,395 previous weeks.

Unusual Volume: There was a jostling for the shares of ACCESS BANK PLC as over 346 million shares worth N3.45 billion were transacted in 173 deals

Bid and Offer: The shares of SPRINGBANK (6.90m units), FIRSTBANK (1.14m units), and MULTIVERSE (86, 259 units) surprisingly closed on bid by end of trading session on Friday while IAINSURE led on the supply side with over 272.8m units on offer. LASACO (82.35m units), FIDELITYBK (69.63m units), FIRSTINLD (89.68m units) and NEM Insurance (47.62m units) followed.

FIRSTBANK Pulls Weight to emerge Leader in Gainers’ Camp: Friday saw FIRSTBANK and MULTISERVE in the gainers camp. FIRSTBANK rose N1.18k to N24.90k and MULTISERVE gained 10 kobo to N2.13k. On the other side of the camp, CAP slid 49 kobo to N49.41k. NB plunged 38 kobo to N38.44k and UBN was down 37 kobo to N36.91k.

Banking Sector Lead Sectoral Performance: With a 62 percent take of the total market volume, the banking sector emerged most active sector for the week with 613 million valued at N6.62 billion executed in 11,076 trades. This feat is not unconnected to spiky movements in the shares of ACCESS (356 units), SPRINGBANK (118 million units) and FIRSTBANK (25 million). Driven by IAINSURE (53million units), UNIVINSURE (16million units) and AIICO (13million units), the insurance sector ranked next accounting for 124 million shares exchanged in 1,625 deals worth over N195 million. Conglomerates sector clinched third most active sector with 114 million shares transacted in 386 trades valued at N212.

Company News and Results

1. JaPaul Oil and Maritime PLC and Wapco (Lafarge) Cement PKC released their unaudited Q3’08 results for the period ended September 30. Also, National Sports Lottery Plc posted its unaudited Q3’08 results for the period ended October 30.
2. Cap Plc Declares Interim dividend: CAP PLC proposed an interim dividend of N2.00k per share alongside the release of its un-audited Q3’08 results for the period ended September 30. Closure date is November 03 to 05, 2008 and payment date November 20, 2008.
3. Custodian & Allied Insurance Plc declared an interim dividend of N0.075k (7.5 kobo) per share which coincidentally the closure date was scheduled for today, October 20, 2008 and payment date October 23, 2008.
4. The share prices of 7UP Plc and CUTIX Plc were adjusted for dividend payment of N1.50k and 12 kobo respectively while NESF was marked for coupon payment of N152.00k.
5. 4.2 billion Shares of ABBEY BULIDING SOCIETY PLC were on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 introduced into the fold of listed equities on the daily official list of the stock exchange.
6. The supplementary offer of 40,744,328 ordinary shares of CUSTODIAN & ALLIED INSURANCE PLC was on Friday, October 24, 2008 listed on the daily official list. This brings the shares outstanding of the Insurance Company to 4.79 billion.