Market activities PERMUTATIONS by experts, as well as observers in the Nigerian capital market, that transactions in equities will rally back more in the third quarter of 2011 can be said to have failed again.The stock market at the close of trading on Friday, and with just five transaction days from today (Monday), to the end of the third quarter in the year, has suffered a year to date loss of 19.8 per centDealing members on the Exchange cum market analysts in their responsibilities to properly diagnose and proffer solution to the dip in the stock market have not succeeded in checking the downward slide in the market.Year-to-date trading in the market Year to date performance analysis of 30 highly capitalised stocks showed that Dangote Flourmills, Oando Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Access Bank Plc, Nigerian Handling Company Plc, Dangote Sugar Plc and Northern Nigeria Flourmills Plc led the pack of stocks that posted worst negative returns as the shares fell by -66.0 %, -60.21%, -57.9 % , -44.8 %, -44.2, 43.8% and -43.3 % respectively.In other words, the stocks along others resisted recovery and instead of the prices rising along the lines of market recovery globally, they nose dived.The analysis depicting performance of the total 191 listed equities from January 4 when trading opened, to Wednesday September 22, 2011, showed that a total of 30 stocks posted various percentage rise in prices while 50 stocks neither appreciated nor depreciated in price.For instance, 7Up Bottling Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc gave investors the highest capital appreciations with their share prices rising by as much as 16.7 %, 15.4 % and 10.6 % in that order.Opening at N39.00 at the beginning of the year, 7UP Bottling Plc rose to N45.50 per share as at Wednesday last week, and Guinness Nigeria Plc rose from N190.56 per share to N220.00, while Nigerian Breweries Plc rose from N77.32 to N85.50 per share.Stocks that yielded zero returns during the period include Sovereign Insurance, Great Insurance Plc, Linkage Assurance, Dunlop Plc, Adwitch Plc, Pharma Deko Plc, Poly Product, Beta Glass Plc, and Pinnacle Point Group. They remained stable as they neither appreciated nor depreciated.Also in this category are the rescued banks of Intercontinental Bank, Oceanic Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank and Ecobank. Shares sales pressure in the weekThe sell pressure on most stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the five trading days last week resulted in bearish outlook with All-Share Index (ASI) recording negative trend in four of the five trading days.The second twin performance indicator, the market capitalisation, also suffered a huge depreciation due to the dip in the prices of blue chips that used to raise indices in the market.The hold of the bearish trend in the market started since the taking over of the trio of Afribank Plc, Spring Bank and Bank PHB Plc by the National Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) even as the All-Share Index and market capitalisation closed the week at a value of N6.442 trillion and 20,202.50 basis points respectively.Some of the dividends declared in the third quarter of the year could not get positive reactions from the investors as the share prices maintained southward trend as against the expected uptrend in their share prices.The third quarter is, however, inundated with positive companies forecast which, if businesses operation remains at the same pace, will see investors recouping their investment next year.Equity transactions last week The equities market was flat on Monday as losses from major blue chip stocks helped to depress the market even as investment on the Nigerian Stock Exchange continued on the downward trend.Specifically, market capitalisation depreciated by N94 billion or 1.4 per cent to close at N6.636 trillion from N6.730 trillion recorded on Friday while the All-Share Index equally dropped by 1.4 per cent or 295.59 basis points to close at 20,811.08 from 21,106.67 index points.Experts had attributed the sustainable capital market downturn to the exit of some foreign investors following the rising wave of insecurity in the country.They argued that the few foreign investors that have decided to play in the Nigerian stock market after the exit of their counterparts are currently offloading their shares massively due to fear of losing their portfolio over security challenges in the country.The price movement chart in the day's transaction showed that 15 companies depreciated in stocks while 21 others gained in value.Julius Berger led the losers table with five per cent, to close N49.64 per share. Flour Mills followed with 4.99 per cent, to close at N75.05 per share while Dangote Flour shed 4.90 per cent to close at N5.82 per share.On the gainers table, Roads topped the list with 4.93 per cent to close at N3.83 per share. Nascon followed with 4.91 per cent to close at N4.49 per share while NCR added 4.85 per cent to close at N4.32 per share.Tuesday's transactions saw investors heaving a sigh of relief as the bulls displaced the bears even as price gains outweighed losses, resulting in market capitalisation to increase by N20billion.The rise in market indices as attributed by analysts was occasioned by heavy price gains recorded by major highly capitalised companies on the Exchange.At the close of transactions in the day, the All-Share index rose by 64.239 points or 0.3 per cent from 20,811.08 recorded on Monday to 20,875.32 while market capitalisation increased by N20billion from N6,636trillion to N6,656trillion.Further analysis of the day's transactions showed that Longman topped the gainers chart with 4.99 per cent to close at N4.84 per share while Roads followed with 4.96 per cent to close at N4.02 per share.Vitafoam added 4.91 per cent to close at N5.98 per share while TransNational Corporation gained 4.88 per cent to close at N0.86 per share.UPL, Airservice , Sterling bank added 4.75,4.28 and 4.23 per cent to close at N3.75,N1.95 and N1.48 per share.Equity transactions at the NSE closed on a downward note on Wednesday, occasioned by price losses suffered by major blue chip companies, as market capitalisation fell marginally by N2billion.At the close of transactions in the day, the few gains recorded by some blue-chip companies were not enough to push market indices.Specifically, the All- Share index slided by 7.1100 points or 0.03 per cent from 20,875.32 recorded on Tuesday to 20,868.21 while market capitalisation dropped by N2billion from N6.656 trillion to N6.54 trillion.On the activity chart, the banking subsector remains the most active stock in volume terms with 188 millionshares worth N1.1billion in 2,164 deals. The insurance subsector followed with 11million units valued at N6million in 86deals.The conglomerates ranked third with 8million units worth N29 million in 239dealsThe banking subsector was driven by activities in the shares of Fidelity Bank which traded 56million shares worth N116million in 113deals followed by Access bank with 31million units valued at N172million in 138deals.Transactions in the shares of Goldlink and Mutual Benefit Assurance boosted activities in the insurance subsector with 4million shares and 3million units worth N2million andN1.5million.On the whole, investors exchanged 234million shares worth N1.8million in 3,942deals.Further analysis of day's trading showed that 19 stocks depreciated in price, led by CAP with 4.99 per cent to close at N21.89 per share while UAC-Properties followed with 4.96 per cent to close at N15.51 per share.Sterling Bank lost 4.73per cent to close at N1.41 per .share while Japaul oil shed 4.65 per cent to close at N0.82 per share.NPF Micro Finance Bank, EvansMedical, Fidson dropped 4.63, 4.44, 3.90 per cent to close at N1.03, N0.86 and N1.48 per share.Access Bank shed 3.64 per cent to close at N5.30 per share while TransNational Corporation lost 3.49 per cent to close at N0.83 per share.Oando also shed 2.59 per cent to close at N26.00 per share.Dangote Flourmills led others on the gainers chart with 4.99 per cent to close at N6.10 per share. NCR followed with 4.86 per cent to close at N4.53per share.Unity Bank added 4.84 per cent to close at N0.65 per share while UPL gained 4.8 per cent to close at N3.93per share.Thursday's transactions showed a total of 196.66 million shares worth N1.829 billion being exchanged by investors in 3,730 deals.This represented a decline by 16 per cent in terms of volume compared to 234.77 million shares, valued at N1.819 billion exchanged at the close of Wednesday.The significant decline was mainly as a result of the losses recorded by highly capitalised stocks, which depressed major market indicators at the close of equity trading activities.Thus, the market capitalisation of the listed equities dropped by N52 billion or 0.8 per cent from N6.65 trillion on Wednesday to N6.602 trillion.Similarly, the NSE's All-Share Index which stood at 20,868.21 points on Wednesday fell further by 0.8 per cent or 163.06 points to 20,705.15.Trading on Friday, further closed in the red as the twin market indicators, the All-Share Index and market capitalisation dropped by 2.42 per cent each to close the week at 220,202.50 points and N6.442 trillion respectively.Specifically, the market capitalisation fell by N160 billion, while the All-Share Index went down by 502.65 basis points.
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