INVESTMENT in equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened the trading week, Tuesday, on a plausible note with the All-Share Index closing at 26,232.57 points, translating into a marginal increase of 19 basis points.

The day's transaction, which was boosted by specific demand interest in some stocks, was able to stem a possible resurgence of strong bearish interests which took the early part of trading activities in the previous week.

MTI Plc, a stock listed in the Information and Communication Technology subsector, had volumes in excess of 100 million units exchanged hands in trades that were obviously strategic in nature. It notched top spot on the volumes traded list.

The banks, courtesy of Zenith Bank and Access Bank, followed with trades of 31.4 million and 26.3 million units worth N423.99 million and N224.69 million respectively.

For the banks, whose stock continue to dominate trading activities at market, Access Bank gained full points to close at N8.53 in the day. It opened quite strongly at N8.52 and kept up the momentum all through the session. Diamond Bank, Ecobank, Afribank and United Bank for Africa also secured healthy gains at the close of trading.

On the other hand, Stanbic IBTC, Bank PHB, Union Bank and Fidelity Bank went under the market scalpel for varying degrees of correction. Institutional sell pressure shed marginal points from Zenith Bank; it closed the day at N13.39.

Dangote Flour led the gainers’ chart with a N1.10 gain representing 4.97 per cent in share price, while its sister company, Dangote Sugar, held top spot on the absolute losers chart with a N0.40 or 2.5 per cent dip.

A review of the day’s activities further showed that investors’ wealth rose by 0.18 per cent in the equities performance indicators.

The increase in Monday’s transaction was energised particularly by gains in 42 equity stocks as against 30 stocks that recorded price losses at the end of the day.

The market capitalisation of listed equities in the day notched higher by N12 billion to close at N6.381 trillion from the previous N6.369 trillion.

Further review of the gainers’ list in the day showed that Julius Berger, Lafarge WAPCO, African Petroleum and National Aviation Handling Company followed on the top five gainers table, appreciating 1.90, 2.41, 2.27 and 4.93 per cent respectively.

UACN, Flourmill Nigeria, GlaxoSmithKline and Ashaka Cement dipped by 3.49, 0.85, 1.99 and 1.90 per cent.  The insurance sub-sector ranked second on the sectoral analysis with traded volume of 60.42 million units valued at N52.18 million exchanged in 423 deals.

Unity Kapital Assurance and Sovereign Trust Assurance boosted transactions in the sub-sector, trading 11.599 million shares worth N7.03 million in 11 deals and 11.57 million in 11 deals in that order.

On the whole, stockbrokers crossed a total of 388.23 million shares worth N2.46 billion in 6,595 deals.      On Wednesday, the bear reverberated in the market again, forcing investors’ wealth in the market to deplete by an Index value of 0.14 per cent.

Loss in the day’s transaction was occasioned by price depreciation incurred by most highly capitalised stocks on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange..

Forty-three companies suffered share price loss, compared to 31 companies that appreciated in price in the day. The All-Share Index closed lower at 26,195.74 points, 36.83 points down from 26,232.57 points recorded in the previous day while market capitalisation fell by N9 billion to close at N6.371 trillion.

A review of the price movement chart showed that Flourmill Nigeria Plc topped the day’s losers table with a dip of 1.86 per cent, while Unilever Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Conoil Nigeria Plc and African Petroleum Plc followed with 3.87, 3.14, 1.72 and 2.08 per cent.

In day’s activities, one of the petroleum marketing giants, Mobil Nigeria Plc emerged with the day’s highest price gain of 4.99 per cent, while Chevron Nigeria Plc, CAP Plc, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc and Eternaoil Plc followed with 4.99, 4.99, 2.43 and 4.92 per cent growth respectively.

The banking sub-sector remains the most active stock in volume terms with 119.2 million shares, worth N1.1 billion in 3,467 deals.

The insurance sub-sector followed with 55.8 million units, worth N61.3 million in 426 deals while the Engineering Technology sub-sector traded with 51 million units, worth N58.7 million in 14 deals.

Transaction in the shares of Zenith Bank Plc lifted activities on the banking sub-sector with 26.7 million shares; worth N358 million followed by First Bank of Nigeria Plc with 15.9 million units, worth N228.7 million in 788 deals.

The weakened performance rate recorded at the close of Wednesday’s trading session consequently dipped further on Thursday with NSE All-Share Index posting negative outlook. The ASI depreciated by 0.98 per cent.

The decline recorded in Insurance, Food and Beverages and some blue chips stocks as indicated by the performance of NSE-30 index contributed to the overall market decline. Food and Beverages sector led the decline chart among all the four NSE sectoral indexes.

There are evidences of high volatility rate in all the sectors of the market. This trend shows clear indications of lack of investors’ commitment to holding the stocks as it seems majority of players in the market now resort to buying and selling within the short period of time.

Transaction in the day showed 42 stocks deepening in value compared to 29 others who pitched their tent on the gainers chart. Specifically Nigerian Breweries, which led the laggard fell by the maximum points of 5.0 per cent. Nigerian Bottling, UAC-Properties, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) and Ashakacement followed with 3.21, 4.97, 4.93 and 4.31 per cent dip, while Julius Berger, Lafarge Wapco, CAP, GlaxoSmithKline and Conoil Plc appreciated by 4.26, 4.39, 4.97, 5.0 and 2.04 per cent.

However, loss in the two previous days was halted on Friday as the market capitalisation rose by N52 billion while the index added 214.28 points to close the week at a high of N6.361 trillion and 26,153.47 points even as this was enough to cancel the dip in value the market had suffered in the week.

A review of transaction in the market last week showed that Flourmills Nigeria Plc suffered most in terms of depreciation, as the stocks of the company dipped by -4.88 per cent. African Petroleum followed closely with -4.63 per cent while Nigerian Breweries, Nigerian Bottling Company and Oando ended the five top losers with -2.16, -3.20 and -1.22 per cent respectively.

A comparative analysis of the market with the previous week revealed that the market dipped again by N7 billion or -0.11 per cent even as Monday in the week was a public holiday in commemoration of the country's Democracy Day.