Nigerian Bank Nigeria Access Bank Plc – Stock Market In Wobbly Recovery

Source Next: Daniel Osunkoya, December 18th 2009

The measuring indices of the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s performance have continued to display signs of unsteady recovery from the financial crisis, since the second trading day of the week.

The Exchange’s market capitalisation and the All-Share Index, which plunged on Monday by 0.2 per cent, were up the second day by 0.1 per cent. The market witnessed another downturn on Wednesday but rebounded yesterday. The two measuring parameters had declined by 3.6 per cent throughout last week.

Philip Nnadi, a stock analyst, said, “Investors should expect such (unstable) performance at the capital market this period.” Mr. Nandi added that recovery of equity prices “can only start sometimes next year, say middle of the year when economic activities across all sectors would have picked up better.”

Global market

Mixed performance also characterised stock markets across the world on Thursday. The Europe DJ Stoxx Index lost 1.18 per cent, the Australian Securities Exchange’ ASX100 gained 0.11 per cent, the Japanese Nikkei 225 Index was down by 0.13 per cent, while the UK FTSE All shares Index was also down by 1.40 per cent.

In other markets: the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.22 per cent, the France SBF 80 Index down by 0.93 per cent, while the Germany MDAX gained 0.03 per cent, the Sweden OMSX All Share also gained 0.90 per cent, but the Netherland AEX Index was down by 0.55 per cent.

Thursday’s record

At the close of proceedings on Thursday, the NSE’s market capitalisation gained over N51 billion on the N4.890 trillion recorded on Wednesday, to close at N4.941 trillion. The All-Share Index gained 81.34 points up from the previous day’s figure of 20,558.69 basis points to close at 20,640.03.

The capital market recorded trading in over 284 million quantities of stocks yesterday, worth N1.926 billion in a record of 5,940 deals. Of the 62 stocks that made the gainers/losers chart, 28 stocks appreciated in price while 34 stocks depreciated.

Nestle Nigeria and Flour Mill topped the price gainers’ chart with an increase of N10.00, and N1.80 per share, while UAC Property and Zenith Bank followed in the gainers’ chart with an increase of 95 kobo and 30 kobo per share.

On the flip side, Lafarge Wapco Cement and Nigerian Breweries topped the price losers’ chart with a decrease of N1.00, and 74 kobo per share. Cement Company of North Nigeria and Cadbury Nigeria followed in the chart with a drop of 64 kobo and 58 kobo per share.

Banks maintain lead

The banking sub-sector led on the most active chart, with 141.58 million shares worth N1.204 billion. The volume in the sub-sector was driven by trading in shares of Guaranty Trust Bank, First Bank, Access Bank, and Fidelity Bank.

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