Dear Afrinvestor,

Market Statistics (Friday, 28^th September, 2012)

Market Cap (N'bn)	8,282.28
Market Cap (US$'bn)	52.65
NSE All-Share Index	26,011.63
Daily Performance %	1.17
1 Week Performance %	0.53
YTD Performance %	25.47
Daily Volume (Million)	293.93
Daily Value (N'bn)	2.92
Daily Value (US$'m)	18.54

Dealer’s Perception

·         The NSE All-Share Index was up 117bps.

·         Bearish sentiments continued to sway the banking sector, with more losers than gainers at the close of the session. Glutting offers trimmed off a further 4.9% from Union Bank, while Access Bank lost a further 2.1%. An initial surge in the price of First Bank also spurred selling sentiments which trimmed off 0.9% from its price at the close of the session. On the flip side, GTBank and Zenith Bank picked up 2.4% and 1.2% closing at N19.15 and N16.30 respectively.

·         Reprieve from selling pressure for International Breweries led to a 10.0% spike, closing with unsatisfied demand at limit up. NB also on the up-tick was up by 1.2% on the back of crossed deals and institutional purchases; Guinness was however flat with fairly matched bids and offers

·         Dangote Cement shot up at the close of the session with a 4.2% mark-up, recording the only gain in the building material sector. Lafarge Wapco and Ashaka Cement however lost 1.8% and 0.7% apiece.

Weekly Trading Summary

·         The NSE All-Share index gained 53bps this week.

·         The banking sector was skewed to the sell side this week; participants on the buy side were also cautious leading to fewer gainers at the close of the week. Former favourite Union Bank lost 17.7% this week as participants in a bid to lock in gains, flooded the market with offers.

·         The conglomerate sector was however up-beat with a boost from Transcorp and Unilever both up by 13.9% and 9.4% respectively at the close of the week.  A.G. Leventis and PZ Cussons also advanced with slim gains of 2.3% and 1.7% while UACN lost 7.5% this week.

·         UTC and Dangote Flour were top gainers in the food and beverages sector this week, picking up 17.9% and 10.9% respectively. Flour Mills and Nascon however had selling pressure trimming off 9.2% and 5.4% respectively.