The bearish trend in the Nigerian equities market continued unabated on the first trading day in the week, causing The Nigerian Stock Exchange, All Share Index to depreciate by 58 basis points. At the end of today’s trading session, the ratio of advancers to decliners was 0:52; the ASI lost 243.95 points to close at 41,640.15, whilst the market capitalization decreased by US$0.46 billion to close at US$78.34 billion. In addition, the volume and value of transactions closed lower by 4.74% and 1.16% respectively.

Union Bank of Nigeria Plc today released its audited account for the year ended 31th March, 2008. Turnover grew by 26.61% to N112.989 billion, Profit Before Tax grew by 87.81% to N33.012 billion, while Profit After Tax soared by 93.54% to N26.855 billion. The management of the company proposed a dividend of N1.00k and a bonus of 1 for 6 with closure of register and payment date of November 17th and December 3rd, 2008. In spite of this corporate action, the stock failed to enjoy investors’ patronage as it closed lower and lost full 1%.

In addition, Eterna Oil Plc today released its un-audited results for the third quarter ended 30th September, 2008. Turnover increased by 144.54% to N9.960 billion, Profit Before Tax grew by 220.89% to N123.24 million, while Profit After Tax increased by 184.62% to N86.268 million from a loss of N101.946 million in the corresponding period of 2007.

In spite of the alluring results from companies such as UBN, market refused to go agog as most of the stocks closed lower with no gainer recorded. This situation may be connected with the liquidity constraints in the capital market, loss of investors’ confidence and to an extent, the global financial turmoil.

Index was down by 58 basis pts on 15,141.3 trades. Average size of trade was US$3,064 with total value of US$14.31m. Market cap closed at US$78.34 billion.

Overall, there were no gainer and 52 losers and 68 unchanged. The Banking sector led the volume chart followed by the Insurance sector and both accounted for 69.90% of total volume traded.

Chams Plc traded 62.556 million shares to top the overall volume chart. Other stocks that closed in the top echelon were Spring Bank, Lasaco, Intercontinental Bank and First Inland Bank.

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* Net Bid: Spring Bank Plc.
* Net Offer: Investment and Allied Insurance Plc, Universal Insurance, UBA, Lasaco and Fidelity Bank Plc.
* Top Gainers: Nil.
* Top Losers: Skye Bank, Nigeria Ropes, Nahco, Okomu Oil and Dangote Sugar.

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