By Udeme Ekwere

Saturday, 30 Oct 2010

Profit taking activities by investors on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday halted the bullish run that had existed in the market since last week.

Specifically, the NSE All-Share Index, which increased by 0.3 per cent to close at 25,067.75 the previous day, fell by 0.1 per cent or 71.61 points to close at 25,042.16.

Similarly, the market capitalisation of the 199 listed securities fell by N9bn or 0.1 per cent, to close at N7.982tn. It had increased by 0.3 per cent or N23bn to N7.991tn the preceding day.

The drop was traced by analysts to notable retreat in stocks in the banking and food/beverages sub-sectors, as investors took advantage of the increase in activities recorded in those sub-sectors.

However, insurance and petroleum stocks generally closed higher this week. This was visible in the performance of their indices, as the NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.3 per cent from 161.91 to close at 162.40 points.

The NSE Oil/Gas Index closed at 334.08 points, representing a rise of 0.8 per cent or 2.52 points up from 331.56 points the preceding day.

The NSE-30 Index, which basically measures the performance of blue chips in the market, fell by 0.3 per cent to close at 1,051.16 points, while the NSE Banking Index and the NSE Food/beverages index fell by 0.3 per cent and 0.9 per cent to close at 371.48 and 805.81 points.

The banking sub-sector continued to drive total turnover as it accounted for 79 per cent of the volume traded.

In the sub-sector, investors exchanged 278.988 million shares, valued at N2.352bn in 3,463 deals.

Turnover in the sub-sector was driven by trading in the shares of First Bank of Nigeria Plc and Diamond Bank Plc, which accounted for 34 per cent of volume in the sub-sector.

Meanwhile, Flour Mills Nigeria Plc led 34 other stocks on the price gainers‘ chart, rising by 2.7 per cent or N1.87 to close at N71.90 per share.

Nigerian Bottling Company Plc followed on the chart, gaining five per cent to close at N32.55 per share.

However, Cadbury Nigeria Plc led on the losers‘ chart, with a loss of 3.1 per cent or 94 kobo to close at N29.56 per share.

Unilever Nigeria Plc followed with a loss by 2.6 per cent to close at N28 per share.

Source: Punch