By Michael Eboh
The value of listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), appreciated last week by N158.08 billion.
This is an indication of a gradual return of investors’ confidence, following the reassurance of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Lamido Sanusi, on the safety of investment in the Nigerian capital market.

Lamido, had last week, allayed fears of enforcing strict collection of the debts owed to banks by stockbrokers. He advised banks to restructure the debt owed by stockbroking firmsMeanwhile, the market capitalisation, which opened last week at N4.924 trillion, appreciated by 3.21 per cent to close at N5.082 trillion, while the All-share index rose by 1.8 per cent to close at 21,870.12 points from 21,483.02 points at which it opened.

The improvement in the key market indices was also attributed to gains on the share prices of majority of the quoted securities, new listings and a number of supplementary listing.

African Alliance Insurance Company Plc’s 16.7 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each, were admitted to the Daily Official List at N3.50 per share, a total of 410.96 million shares were added to the shares outstanding in the name of Crusader (Nigeria ) Plc following the bonus of one ordinary share for every 10 ordinary shares held by its shareholders.Also, Crusader had a total of 120.22 million shares added to its shares outstanding being supplementary listing of post consolidation adjustment at N2.16 per share.

A total of 346.47 million shares were added to the shares outstanding in the name of Ikeja Hotel Plc following the bonus of one ordinary share for every five ordinary shares held by its shareholders.

A total of 246.3 million shares were added to the shares outstanding in the name of African Petroleum Plc following the conclusion of its hybrid offering held in 2008. On the gainers’ table, Guinness Nigeria Plc recorded the most share price gain, rising by N12.63 to close at N143.00 per share, Nestle Nigeria Plc followed with a gain of N8.00 to close at N208.00 per share and Julius Berger Nigeria Plc garnered N4.06 to close at N22.93 per share.

Other share price gainers in the week under review include: Nigerian Breweries Plc N2.93, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc N2.78, UAC Property Development Company Plc N1.79, Ashaka Cement Plc N1.60, Diamond Bank Plc N1.24, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc N1.18, United Bank for Africa Plc N1.17 among others.

On the contrary, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc recorded the most share price loss, dropping by N5.14 to close at N97.75 per share, African Petroleum Plc followed with a loss of N3.68 to close at N33.00 per share and Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc dipped by N3.67 to close at N69.96 per share.Other share price losers include: Flour Mills Nigeria Plc N2.24, Conoil Plc N2.06

Plc N1.90, Union Bank Nigeria Plc N1.68, Beta Glass Company Plc N1.62, Intercontinental Bank Plc N1.07, Oando Plc N1.00 among others.

Equity trading also appreciated by 5.71 per cent in the week under review, as a turnover of 2.22 billion shares valued at N16.17 billion was recorded in 29,482 deals, in contrast to the previous week’s turnover of 2.1 billion shares valued at N13.2 billion in 29,963 deals.
The Banking sub-sector dominated the other sub-sectors, accounting for 69.37 per cent of the market turnover, with 1.54 billion shares valued at N11.31 billion in 15,973 deals.