Today, Equity Market sustained the rally for the seventh session as bargain activities continued to outweigh sell pressure with market YTD performance currently standing at +5.98% while the key market indicator, NSE ASI, edged towards 22,000 psychological line as it closed at 21,970.21 after today’s session.

Nevertheless, the key benchmark indices sustained uptrend as sentiments remained positive, taking supports majorly from Medium CAP stocks which was particularly driven by FCMB while Small CAP stocks also contributed to the outlook recorded today due to continuous bargain activities witnessed in Agriculture, Consumer Goods, Financial Services and Oil & Gas sectors.

In the same vein, the market capitalization of 187 first-tier equities appreciated by N23.85 billion as market sentiments remained positive. 102 equities were traded today as against previous 84 with more activities recorded in Financial Services, Consumer Goods, Conglomerates, Oil & Gas, Industrial Goods, Services, Agriculture, Healthcare and ICT sectors.

Today, all five NSE sectoral indices closed positive as NSE 30 which basically measures the performance of blue chips maintained uptrend by +0.32%, NSE Insurance retraced by +1.98% while NSE Oil & Gas closed upwards by +1.29% with NSE banking recording the lowest gain by +0.19% while NSE Food recorded +0.54% gain.

At the close of trading session, the NSE All-Share Index inches up by +0.34% to close at 21,970.21 as against an upbeat by +0.53% recorded in the previous session to close at 21,895.41. In the same vein, market capitalization appreciated by N23.85billion (US$158.97 million) to close at N7.00trillion (US$46.69billion) as against appreciation by N37.01billion (US$246.70 million) recorded in preceding session to close at N6.98trillion (US$46.53billion).
 

The number of gainers at the close of trading session closed lower at 28 as against 29 recorded in the previous session while decliners closed higher at fourteen (14) as against thirteen (13) losers recorded in the previous trading day – suggesting a positive market breadth.
 

Today, the following company presented its result

1.   Beco Petroleum Plc: in its Audited 2011 result recorded negative turnover growth of -3.4% and negative PAT growth of -155.7%.

As usual, Financial Services sector led the market transaction volume today with 239.66 million units valued at N1.95 billion (US$13.02 million) exchanged in 2,618 deals as against 404.38 million units valued at N3.11 billion (US$20.73 million) exchanged in 3,353 deals recorded in previous session.
 

The volume recorded in the sector was driven by transaction in the shares of FIRSTBANK, GUARANTY, UBA, ZENITHBANK and FIDELITY BANK Plc and the total volume of 171.00 million units valued at N1.69 billion traded in five stocks accounted for 55.55% of the entire market volume and their value represented 55.90% of the market’s value.

Transaction volume on the exchange moved down by -30.00% to close at 307.82 million units exchanged in 4,476 deals as against an upbeat by +1.04% recorded in the previous trading to close at 439.71 million units exchanged in 5,052 deals.
 

Also, market value depreciated by -22.62% to close at N3.03 billion (US$20.22 million) as against appreciation by +15.98% recorded in the previous trading session to close at N3.92 billion (US$26.12 million).
 

Sectoral Performance (According to New Market Segmentation)

Financial Services sector led the market sectoral performance with 239.66 million units of shares traded in 2,618 trades within the sector, followed by Consumer Goods sector to come second on the chart with 39.12 million units traded in 918 trades while Conglomerates sector recorded 13.37 million units in 113 trades to close with third position on the chart. See the full table below  

 Market Outlook by Classification

At the end of today's session, it was observed that Large Cap stocks according to new market segmentation topped today's market activity with 40.42% contribution to market turnover, followed by Medium Cap stocks with 34.77% while Small Cap stocks stake 24.82% to come last on the chart.
 

Among the Large cap stocks, DANGCEM, NB and GUARANTY Plc topped the 7 traded stocks in that class while ETI, IBTC and WAPCO dominated Medium Cap of 21 traded stocks. Similarly, DANGFLOUR, ETRANZACT and ASHAKACEM led 74 traded stocks in the Small Cap category in that order. See table below

SECTORAL REVIEW 

The Agriculture sector closed with three gainers as against one gainer to two unchanged prices recorded in the previous session. Livestock Feeds Plc closed with +4.90% gain after today’s trading session.

The Conglomerates sector closed with one loser and three unchanged prices as against one gainer and two unchanged prices recorded in the previous session. Transcorp Plc closed with -1.89% loss after today’s trading session.

The Construction/Real Estate sector closed with no price movement as against one gainer to one unchanged price recorded in the previous session.

The Consumer Goods sector closed with eight gainers to two losers as against seven gainers to two losers recorded in previous session. Cadbury moved northwards by +4.98% while PZ Plc moved southwards by -0.90% after today’s trading session.

The Financial Services sector closed with seven gainers to five losers as against seven gainers to nine losers recorded in the previous session. FCMB moved up by +4.98% while Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc moved down by -1.92% after today’s trading session.    
                                                                             

The Healthcare sector closed with no price movement compared to no price movement recorded in previous session.

The Information & Communication Technology sector closed with one gainer to four unchanged prices as against no price movement recorded in the previous session.

The Industrial Goods sector closed with three gainers to three losers as against three gainers to one loser recorded in previous session. Ashaka Cement Plc closed positive by +4.98% while CCNN Plc closed negative with -5.00% after today’s trading session.

The Natural Resources sector closed with no price movement as against no price movement recorded in previous session. All stocks in the sector closed flat after today’s trading session.

The Oil & Gas sector closed with two gainers to one loser as against five gainers to one loser recorded in previous session. Conoil Plc closed positive by +5.00% while Japaul Oil Plc closed negative with -3.64% after today’s trading session.

The Services sector closed with one gainer to two losers as against three gainers to two losers recorded in the previous session. University Press Plc closed positive by +1.45% while RT Briscoe Plc closed negative with -3.08% after today’s trading session.

Further analysis on Acquiring Banks since transaction date showed that the share price of Access Bank Plc has recorded 19.19% gain, followed by FCMB with 35.13% while Union Bank Plc leads the chart with 96.17% gain. However, Sterling Bank and ETI Plc both recorded -9.45% loss and +2.83% gain respectively. See the tracking table below.

Acquiring Banks  

Earnings Report for Banks 

Top Trades 

Sectoral Index 

Market Outlook by Capitalisation  

Top Ten Gainers of the day. 

Top Ten Losers of the day. 

Corporate Declaration 

analyst@proshareng.com , 00234-1-7624131, April 25^th 2012; 17.00hrs