Daily Stock News (Aug 18,2011)

Equity market sustained the positive outlook recorded in the last three trading sessions to close market activities upbeat while moderate buying continued to salvage the outlook- indicating continuous low commitment highlighted in our previous report .

More so, the key benchmark indices further resisted the bearish sentiment to record a feeble gain with support coming from Blue Chips, Food & beverages, Banking and Oil & Gas stocks while major NSE sectoral indices closed positive.

The positive market sentiment witnessed in Air Services, Banking, Conglomerates, Food & Beverages, Hotel & Tourism, ICT, Maritime, Petroleum Marketing, Real Estate and Printing & Publishing impacted the outlook recorded today. Meanwhile moderate selling was witnessed in Breweries, Building Materials, Foreign Listings, Healthcare, Packaging and Insurance sectors.
In the same vein, the market capitalization of 199 first-tier equities appreciated by N5.42billion as the sentiments recorded a positive outlook. 105 equities were traded today as against previous 103 with more activities recorded in Banking, Insurance, Media, Conglomerates, Breweries, Commercial Services, Petroleum Marketing, Printing & Publishing, Food & Beverages, ICT, Packaging, Building Materials and Maritime.

The Shares prices of Afribank Plc, Spring Bank Plc and Bank PHB Plc remained stagnant as a result of the Full Suspension placed on them following the nationalization while Intercontinental Bank Plc, FinBank Plc, Oceanic Bank Plc and Union Bank Plc also experienced no price movement due to the Technical Suspension following the signing of their Transaction Implementation Agreement. In addition, analysis revealed that +2.63% gain was recorded by Wema Bank Plc while Unity Bank Plc also recorded +5.00% gain as normal trading activities continued on them.

Today, four out of the five NSE sectoral indices closed positive as NSE 30 which basically measures the performance of blue chips moved up by +0.14%, NSE Banking inches up by +0.67%, NSE Food & Beverages moved up by +0.26% and NSE Oil & Gas closed positive with +1.02% while NSE Insurance closed negative by -0.53%.

At the close of trading session, the NSE All-Share Index inches up marginally by +0.07% to close at 22,828.33 as against an upbeat by +0.08% recorded in the previous session to close at 22,811.39.  In the same vein, market capitalization appreciated byN5.42billion (US36.14million) to close at N7.30trillion (US$48.68billion) as against appreciation by N6.18billion (US$41.20million) recorded on preceding session to close at N7.29trillion (US$48.64billion).

The number of gainers at the close of trading session closed lower at 25 compared with (22) gainers recorded in the previous session while decliners closed higher at eleven (11) as against twenty-one 21) losers recorded in the previous trading day – suggesting a positive market breadth.

The following companies presented their results

1. Juli Plc: in its Q2 2011 result recorded negative gross earnings growth by 27.5% and negative PAT growth by 107.5%.
2. Lasaco Assurance Plc: in its Q2 2011 result recorded positive turnover growth by 9.7% and positive PAT growth by 146.6%.
3. Prestige Assurance Plc: in its Q2 2011 result recorded negative turnover growth by 15.1% and negative PAT growth by 21.3%.
4. DN Meyer Plc: in its Q2 2011 result recorded positive turnover growth by 33.6% and positive PAT growth by 65.8%.

As usual, Banking sector led the market transaction volume today with 153.58 million units valued at N1.07billion (US$7.14million) exchanged in 2,398 deals as against 122.51 million units valued at N768.40million (US$5.12million) exchanged in 2,173 deals recorded in previous session.

The volume recorded in the sector was driven by transaction in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank, Diamond Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank and Fidelity Bank Plc and the total volume of 111.26 million units valued at N810.63million traded in the shares of five stocks accounted for 28.43% of the entire market volume and their value represented 35.49% of the market’s value.
Transaction volume on the exchange moved up by 100.624% to close at 391.32 million units exchanged in 4,295 deals as against negative position of 43.64% recorded in the previous trading to close at 195.42 million units exchanged in 4,283 deals.

Also, market value depreciated by 5.87% to close at N2.28billion (US$15.22million) as against appreciation by 17.41% recorded in the previous trading session to close at N2.42billion (US$16.17million)

SECTORAL REVIEW

The Agriculture/Agro-Allied sector closed with no price movement just as no price movement was also recorded on Wednesday. All stocks in the sector closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Air Services sector recorded one gainer to one unchanged price compared with no price movement was also recorded on previous trading day. Nacho Aviance Plc moved up by +2.71% while Air Service and Logistics Plc closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Banking sector closed today with nine (9) gainers to two (2) losers compared with seven (7) gainers to six (6) losers recorded on previous trading day. Unity Bank Plc moved up by +5.00% to top the gainers’ chart while Access Bank Plc moved down by -2.87% to the losers’ chart after today’s trading session.

The Breweries sector closed with two losers to one unchanged price just as two losers to one unchanged price was also recorded on previous trading day. Nigerian Breweries and Guinness Nigerian Plc both closed negative with -1.19% and -1.12% loss recorded while International Breweries Plc closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Building materials sector, today, closed with one gainer to two losers compared with one gainer to one loser recorded on previous trading day. Lafarge WAPCO Plc moved upwards by +2.02% while Cement Co. of Northern Nigeria Plc moved down by -3.75% after today’s trading session.

The Conglomerates sector recorded two gainers to two unchanged prices compared with one loser to two losers recorded on Wednesday. Transcorp and UAC of Nigeria Plc both moved up by +1.20 and +0.03% respectively while PZ and Unilever Plc closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Food and Beverages sector closed with four gainers to nine unchanged prices compared with one gainer to two losers recorded on previous trading day. NASCON Plc closed positive with +1.35% while Dangote Flour Mills Plc and eight other stocks closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Insurance sector closed with two gainers to two losers compared with three gainers to two losers recorded on previous trading day.

The Petroleum sector records one gainer to six unchanged prices compared with one gainer to seven unchanged prices recorded on Wednesday. Oando Plc moved up by +3.45% while Eterna Oil Plc and five other stocks closed flat after today’s trading session.

Source via proshareng.com