Precisely, a turnover of 298.75 million units worth N335.7 billion was recorded recently, in contrast to a total of 254.1 million units valued at N300.2 billion exchanged in the preceding week.

On the other hand, investors exchanged a total of 2.2 billion shares worth N10.95 billion last week, compared to a turnover of 1.56 billion shares valued at N12.14 billion which changed hands in the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian International Debt Fund Plc was recently delisted from the equity section and moved to Memorandum Listing following the recommendation by the Fund Manager and approval by the Council of The Nigerian Stock Exchange to make the Fund open-ended.

Although, there were no transactions in the Federal Government Development Stocks, State Government Bonds and Industrial Loans/Preference Stocks sectors, the 6th FGN Bond 2029 Series five was the most active bond during the week with a traded volume of 39.2 million units valued at N40.2 billion, followed b y the 4th FGN Bond 2010 Series 14 with 37.6 million units valued at N39.2 billion.

Barring the odds of price losses out-numbering price gains, corporate performance indicators of the Exchange closed the week on a positive note as the All-Share index closed higher at 20,722.64 points, 0.5 per cent or 103.93 points higher than 20,618.71 points at which it opened the week, while market capitalisation rose by N56 billion from N4.904 trillion on Monday to N4.960 trillion on Friday.

Consequently, two of the four sectoral indices appreciated. For instance, the NSE Food/Beverages Index appreciated by 1.21 per cent to close at 517.53 points, while the NSE Banking Index rose by 1.23 per cent to close at 337.57 points.

On the other hand, the NSE Insurance Index depreciated by 0.07 per cent to close at 249.64 points, while the NSE Oil/Gas Index remained constant at 290.55 points.

On the week's price movement chart, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc led the bulls, up by 530 kobo to close at N39.80 per share, followed by UAC Nigeria Property Development Company Plc with 196 kobo to close at N20.96 per share, while Union Bank of Nigeria Plc added 107 kobo to close at N5.99 pr share.

However, Incar Nigeria Plc on the other hand, led 58 other stocks to suffer price depreciation, dropping by 125 kobo to close at N5.56 per share, followed by Nigerian Breweries Plc with 77 kobo to close at N52.01 per share, while BOC Gases Plc lost 70 kobo to close at N13.48 per share.

A review of activities in the sub-sectors, showed that the Insurance sub-sector, unlike the banking sub-sector, was the most active in volume terms, trading 880.9 million shares worth N1.35 billion, followed by the banking sub-sector with 760.32 million shares worth N6.12 billion.

Further analysis of activities in the sub-sectors showed that the volume in the Insurance sub-sector was largely driven by activity in the shares of Guaranty Trust Assurance Plc and AIICO Insurance Plc.

Trading in the shares of the two insurance companies accounted for 790.2 million shares, representing 89.7 per cent of the sub-sector's turnover.

For the banking sub-sector, its volume was boosted by activity in the shares of First City Monument Bank Plc and First Bank of Nigeria Plc.

The Guardian Newspaper, Monday December 21, 2009.