Daily Market Performance: Commentary


Gains Rule in Declined Market Volume: Petroleum Stocks Lead Price Gains ::
>>Monday 14/01/2008


Bearish Trade Day

The week opened maintaining a level of price firmness that nudged up the All-share index by 0.47%, even in the face of lower market volume turnover. The All-share index's 276 points gain was driven by the price gains of some 77 stocks, even as 30 went down in price. The gains were led by petroleum stocks CHEVRON (N9.53), MOBIL (N9.47), OANDO (N4.70) and AP (N4.39). TOTAL, however, ran against the grain, slipping by N8.00. NESTLE also shed N8.00, with UACN, GTBANK and 7UP losing N1.93, N1.30 and N1.00 respectively. Recently listed JAPAULOIL and BIGTREAT are showing good price strength and have continued to trend up. Insurance stocks seem to have rebounded well, as all, excepting Royal Exchange and Standard Alliance were on the gaining side. Other price gains were spread among the various sectors. See full price chart.

NSE Jan '08 trend to 11/1/08

Market turnover dropped in the day's trading both in volume and value. While traded value was down a significant 34%, volume dropped by 8%. The number of deals was also lower than previous day by 14%. Oceanic banks which just released very impressive results is getting a positive market response as it led the transactions value, followed by Intercontinantal Bank. While banks dominated the top 10, CI Leasing and LASACO squeezed into the second and third places respectively. The insurance sector remained strong on transaction volume, with LASACO, EQUITYASUR, NEM, CRUSADER and INTENEGINS featuring in the top volume ten.

It's helpful to look at the relative price movements chart to see which stocks that showed the most strength in their price gains and which lost value more massively. For instance, Japauloil, Crusader Insuance, Deap Capital, CAP, Mobil, Unilever and Chevron pulled maximum 5% gains. See full chart here.

TOP TRADES - 14/01/2008
Company Value
N'Bn		 Units
('000)		 Price
Change (N) 		Closing
(N)
OCEANIC
1.630
56,696
 Price gain
1.13
29.75
INTERCONT
1.528
38,095
 Price gain
0.00
40.58
CILEASING
.8208
100,669
 Price gain
0.33
8.25
LASACO
.810
215
 Price gain
0.18
3.84
GUARANTY
.700
19,882
 Price gain
1.30
34.20
FIDELITYBK
.472
43,442
 Price loss
0.16
11.01
UBN
.465
10,735
 Price gain
0.65
43.00
FIRSTBANK
.367
8,482
 Price gain
0.11
43.61
UBA
.320
6,192
 Price gain
0.13
51.61
UACN
.290
6,080
 Price loss
1.93
48.00
Read Full Trading Results here»

The market would seem to have pulled back from the price slide that had generated some shivers, especially among the growing population of new investors accessing the stock market. As will always happen, prices eventually bounce back up after heading down, and vice versa. The coming days will show whether investor mood is settled in any direction to drive the market.

 

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