Dear Afrinvestor,

Market Statistics (Friday, 31^st August, 2012)

Market Cap (N'bn)	7,560.06
Market Cap (US$'bn)	47.80
NSE All-Share Index	23,750.82
Daily Performance %	0.20
1 Week Performance %	1.50
YTD Performance %	14.57
Daily Volume (Million)	313.79
Daily Value (N'bn)	2.45
Daily Value (US$'m)	15.49

Dealer’s Perception

·         The NSE All-Share Index was up by 20bps.

·         Selling pressure trimmed off a further 0.8% from GTBank; while Access Bank, Zenith Bank, Skye Bank and First Bank did not fare better dropping 1.3%, 0.8%, 0.7% and 0.6% respectively. Sterling Bank however rallied with a 4.0% gain as demand at N1.05 created a support during the session.

·         Crossed deals at N123.00 set the tone for trades in NB today, though closing flat bids went as high as N123.68, as sellers held back on offers in anticipation of future appreciation. Guinness hovered around N252.00 and picked up 0.2% at the close of the session, while closing trades cleared available supplies of International Breweries, firming the price up 5.0%.

·         Cadbury was the toast of the food and beverages sector as it gradually inched up to close at N17.85, booking a 5.0% gain; closing demand could lead to further appreciation in coming sessions. Dangote Sugar on the rebound also picked 3.0%; on the other hand, Nascon, Dangote Flour and UTC lost 1.5%, 1.8% and 3.9% respectively.

Weekly Trading Summary

·         The market was upbeat this week as the NSE All-Share Index advanced by 150bps.

·         The banking sector was in line with market trend this week as Zenith Bank was the only company to record a loss at the close of the week; it dropped 0.6%. An initial surge in the price of GTBank withstood the selling pressure of the last two trading sessions of the week as it recorded a 1.5% week on week gain, also on the up-tick this week were Fidelity Bank, UBA and Stanbic IBTC.

·         The building materials sector was also in line with market sentiments this week as Lafarge Wapco, Dangote Cement, CCNN and Ashaka Cement all rallied during the week; the conglomerates sector however had more losses than gains this week. Growing demand for UACN led to a 4.8% mark-up while Unilever was up by 0.2%. Transcorp, AG Leventis and PZ Cussons however went south this week.

Company Announcement

·         Cadbury Nigeria Plc released its H1 2012 results.

·         Chams Plc released its H1 2012 results.

·         John Holt Plc released its Q3 2012 results.