Daily Stock News (Aug 22,2011)

Today, market breadth collapsed considerably as market witnessed 7 losers for every gain recorded while equity market extended the downward trend experienced in the previous session as the bearish sentiments continued to gain dominance.

More so, the short-termist maintained postures witnessed in the early trades as market opened on negative note, dipping market by 176.40 basis points at the end of session while all indicators plunged considerably into negative territory.

Furthermore, the key benchmark indices lost ground to sell pressure, taking hits from Blue Chips, Food & Beverages, Banking, Insurance and Oil & Gas stocks while all NSE major sectoral indices closed negative with Banking and Insurance sectors remained the worst hit.

The negative market sentiment witnessed in Air Services, Banking, Automobiles, Food & Beverages, Healthcare, Hotel & Tourism, Industrial & Domestics Products, ICT, Maritime, and Petroleum Marketing impacted the outlook recorded today. Meanwhile low-key buying was witnessed in Breweries, Commercial Services, and Conglomerates sectors.

In the same vein, the market capitalization of 199 first-tier equities appreciated by N56.42billion as the sentiments recorded a negative outlook. 105 equities were traded today as against previous 102 with more activities recorded in Banking, Insurance, Hotel & Tourism, Conglomerates, Breweries, Commercial Services, Petroleum Marketing, Food & Beverages, ICT, 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 Wema Bank Plc closed flat while Unity Bank Plc also recorded +3.28% gain as normal trading activities continued on them. See the performance chart below

Today, all five NSE sectoral indices closed negative as NSE 30 which basically measures the performance of blue chips moved down by -0.78%, NSE Banking dips by -2.06%, NSE Food & Beverages moved down by -0.74% and NSE Oil & Gas closed negative with -0.38% while NSE Insurance closed negative by -1.53%.

At the close of trading session, the NSE All-Share Index dips by -0.78% to close at 22,547.62 as against a decline by -0.46% recorded in the previous session to close at 22,724.02.  In the same vein, market capitalization appreciated by N56.42billion (US376.15million) to close at N7.21trillion (US$48.08billion) as against depreciation by N33.36billion (US$222.46million) recorded on preceding session to close at N7.26trillion (US$48.45billion).

The number of gainers at the close of trading session closed lower at 4 compared with (14) gainers recorded in the previous session while decliners closed higher at twenty-seven (27) as against twenty-four (24) losers recorded in the previous trading day – suggesting a negative market breadth.

The following companies presented their results

Ashaka Cement Plc: in its Q1 2011 result recorded negative turnover growth by 4.2% and negative PAT growth by 39.2%.

1. Ashaka Cement Plc: in its Q2 2011 result recorded positive turnover growth by 1.4% and positive PAT growth by 0.5%.

2. Resort Savings & Loans Plc: in its Audited 2010 result recorded negative turnover growth by 6.7% and negative PAT growth by 658.8%.

As usual, Banking sector led the market transaction volume today with 145.30 million units valued at N1.14billion (US$7.63million) exchanged in 2,103 deals as against 380.12 million units valued at N1.98billion (US$13.26million) exchanged in 2,199 deals recorded in previous session.

The volume recorded in the sector was driven by transaction in the shares of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Access Bank, UBA, Zenith Bank and First Bank Plc and the total volume of 115.86 million units valued at N957.66million traded in the shares of five stocks accounted for 63.11% of the entire market volume and their value represented 57.37% of the market’s value.

Transaction volume on the exchange moved down by 58.47% to close at 183.59 million units exchanged in 3,545 deals as against positive position of 12.98% recorded in the previous trading to close at 442.13 million units exchanged in 3,978 deals.

Also, market value depreciated by 45.28% to close at N1.66billion (US$11.12million) as against appreciation by 33.54% recorded in the previous trading session to close at N3.05billion (US$20.33million)

SECTORAL REVIEW

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

The Air Services sector recorded one loser to one unchanged price just as one loser to one unchanged price was also recorded on previous trading day. Nacho Aviance Plc moved down by -4.99% while Air Service and Logistics Plc closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Banking sector closed today with one (1) gainers to ten (10) losers compared with two (2) gainers to ten (10) losers recorded on previous trading day. Unity Bank Plc moved up by +3.28% to top the gainers’ chart while UBA Plc moved down by -4.95% to top the losers’ chart after today’s trading session.

The Breweries sector closed with one gainer to two unchanged prices compared with two gainers to one loser recorded on previous trading day. Guinness Nigerian Plc closed positive with +0.94% gain recorded while International Breweries and Nigerian Breweries Plc closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Building materials sector, today, closed with no price movement compared with three losers to one unchanged price recorded on previous trading day. All stocks in the sector closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Conglomerates sector recorded one gainer to four unchanged prices compared with no price movement recorded on Friday. Transcorp Plc moved up by +4.76 while PZ and other stocks in the sector closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Food and Beverages sector closed with three losers to ten unchanged prices compared with one gainer to two losers recorded on previous trading day. Dangote Flour Mills Plc closed negative with -4.96% while Flour Mills Plc and nine other stocks closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Insurance sector closed with five losers to nine unchanged prices compared with three gainers to three losers recorded on previous trading day.

The Petroleum sector records one loser to seven unchanged prices compared with one gainer to five unchanged prices recorded on Friday. Oando Plc moved down by -1.26% while Eterna Oil Plc and six other stocks closed flat after today’s trading session.