The bears continue to exert their grip on the bourse as unrelenting pressure continue to permeate market activities with the key market indicator closing in the red zone for the sixth consecutive session while International Energy Insurance Plc announced its share reconstruction exercise with 1 for 5 reverse split.

Nevertheless, the key benchmark indices sustained downtrend as sentiments remained negative, taking hits majorly from Medium CAP stock which was particularly driven by UACN while Large CAP stocks also contributed to the outlook recorded today due to unrelenting sell pressure witnessed in Consumer Goods and  Financial services sectors.

In the same vein, the market capitalization of 187 first-tier equities depreciated by N48.87billion as market sentiments remained negative. 112 equities were traded today as against previous 91 with more activities recorded in Financial Services, Conglomerates, Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, Industrial Goods, Healthcare, ICT, Services and Agriculture sectors.

Today, all five NSE sectoral indices closed negative as NSE 30 which basically measures the performance of blue chips maintained downtrend by -0.87%, NSE Insurance closed with -0.99% loss while NSE Oil & Gas also closed negative by -1.66% with NSE banking recording -1.15% loss while NSE Food also recorded -0.54% loss.

At the close of trading session, the NSE All-Share Index dips by -0.70% to close at 21,632.11 as against a decline by -0.46% recorded in the previous session to close at 21,785.37. In the same vein, market capitalization depreciated by N48.87 billion (US$325.73 million) to close at N6.89 trillion (US$45.97billion) as against depreciation by N56.92 billion (US$379.37 million) recorded in preceding session to close at N6.94 trillion (US$46.30billion).
 

The number of gainers at the close of trading session closed lower at 11 as against 15 recorded in the previous session while decliners closed higher at twenty-two (29) as against twenty-two (22) losers recorded in the previous trading day – suggesting a negative market breadth.
 

Today, the following company presented its forecast
 

1. Skye Bank Plc in its Q3 2012 forecast: Gross earnings N99.710b Profit before tax N16.392b Taxation (N2.459b) Profit  after Tax N13.933b
 

As usual, Financial Services sector led the market transaction volume today with 171.37 million units valued at N1.08 billion (US$7.20 million) exchanged in 2,373 deals as against 168.37 million units valued at N1.55 billion (US10.38 million) exchanged in 2,160 deals recorded in previous session.
 

The volume recorded in the sector was driven by transaction in the shares of FIRSTBANK, ZENITH, EQUITYASUR, UBA and MBENEFIT Plc and the total volume of 114.64 million units valued at N832.63 million traded in five stocks accounted for 50.19% of the entire market volume and their value represented 52.76% of the market’s value.
 

Transaction volume on the exchange moved down by -18.39% to close at 228.41 million units exchanged in 4,016 deals as against an upbeat by +19.49% recorded in the previous trading to close at 393.03 million units exchanged in 3,868 deals.

Also, market value depreciated by -26.34% to close at N1.57 billion (US$10.51 million) as against appreciation by -12.50% recorded in the previous trading session to close at N2.14 billion (US$14.27 million).
 

Sectoral Performance (According to New Market Segmentation) 

Financial Services sector led the market sectoral performance with 171.37 million units of shares traded in 2,373 trades within the sector, followed Conglomerates sector to come second on the chart with 19.76 million units traded in 242 trades while Consumer Goods sector recorded 12.60 million units in 636 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 Medium Cap stocks according to new market segmentation topped today's market activity with 39.32% contribution to market turnover, followed by Small Cap stocks with 31.53% while Laarge Cap stocks stake 29.15% to come last on the chart. 
 

Among the Large cap stocks, DANGCEM, ZENITHBANK and GUARANTY Plc topped the 7 traded stocks in that class while WAPCO, UBA and IBTC dominated Medium Cap of 23 traded stocks. Similarly, ASHAKACEM, GLAXOSMITH and UNITYBNK led 82 traded stocks in the Small Cap category in that order. See table below

SECTORAL REVIEW

The Agriculture sector closed with one gainer to one loser as against one loser recorded in the previous session.

The Conglomerates sector closed with one gainer to one loser as against one gainer recorded in the previous session. Transcorp Plc closed with +4.95% gains after today’s trading session.

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

The Consumer Goods sector closed with four losers as against two gainers to four losers recorded in previous session.

The Financial Services sector closed with three gainers to thirteen losers as against two gainers to ten losers recorded in the previous session. Fidelity Bank Plc moved up by +2.36% while Union Bank Plc moved down by -4.76% loss after today’s trading session.    
                                                                             

The Healthcare sector closed with one gainer to one loser compared to two gainers to one loser recorded in previous session.

The ICT sector closed with one loser as against no price movement recorded in the previous session.

The Industrial Goods sector closed with one gainer to five losers as against two gainers to four losers recorded in previous session.

The Natural Resources sector closed with no price movement as against any price movement recorded in previous session.

The Oil & Gas sector closed with one gainer to two losers as against one gainer to one loser recorded in previous session.

The Services sector closed with three gainers to one loser as against three gainers to one loser recorded in the previous session.

Further analysis on Acquiring Banks since transaction date showed that the share price of Access Bank Plc has recorded 26.26% gain with FCMB recording -8.46% losses while Union Bank Plc leads the chart with 62.68% gain. However, Sterling Bank Plc recorded -9.45% losses while ETI also closed negative with -9.68% loss recorded. 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. 

analyst@proshareng.com , 00234-1-7624131, Jun 05^th 2012; 17.55hrs