INVESTORS appetite for bond continued to rise last week, with transactions in the Over-The-Counter (OTC) market recording a turnover of 209.3 million units worth N195.1billion in 1,875 deals, compared with 193.3 million units valued at N186.6billion exchanged in 1,801 deals in the previous week.

As at the close of transactions on Friday, the most active bond, when measured by turnover volume, was the 10.00 per cent Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) July 2030, with a traded volume of 90.7 million units, valued at N79.1billion in 789 deals.
This was followed by four per cent FGN April 2015, with a traded volume of 35.65 million units, valued at N29.2billion in 277 deals.
Also within the week under review, 14 of the available 37 FGN bonds were traded, compared with 11 in the in the preceding week.

However, losses suffered by some firms in the equities sector resulted in a turnover of 971 million shares worth N8.36 billion in 28,629 deals, in contrast to a total of 1.334 billion shares valued at N16.01 billion exchanged in the previous week in 29,656 deals.
The banking sub-sector was the most active during the week when measured by turnover volume with 544.6 million shares worth N4.32 billion exchanged by investors in 16,660 deals.
Volume in the banking subsector was largely driven by activity in the shares of Zenith Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc.
Trading in the shares of the four Banks accounted for 264.5 million shares, representing 48.6 per cent and 27.2 per cent of the subsector’s turnover and total volume traded during the week, respectively.

The insurance subsector, boosted by activity in the shares of Universal Insurance Company Plc and Cornerstone Insurance Plc, followed on the week’s activity chart with a turnover of 132.8 million shares valued at N91.91 million in 957 deals.
On the price movement chart, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE ) All-Share Index depreciated by 304.68 points or 1.33 per cent to close on Friday at 22,689.09 while the market capitalisation of the 199 First -Tier equities declined to N5.56 trillion.
Also, the NSE-30 Index depreciated by 9.08 points or 0.94 per cent to close at 953.69. In the previous week, All Share Index and NSE-30 Index depreciated by 3.44 per cent and 3.2 per cent , respectively.

All the four sectorial indices depreciated during the week, same as during the previous week. The NSE Food/Beverage Index depreciated by 9.51 points or 1.3 per cent to close at 709.94, the NSE Banking Index depreciated by 2.07 points or 0.62 per cent to close at 327.82, the NSE Insurance Index depreciated by 12.46 points or 8 per cent to close at 148.79 and the NSE Oil/Gas Index depreciated by 5.90 points or 1.73 per cent to close at 332.00.
Thirty-three stocks appreciated in price during the week, higher than the nineteen of the preceding week.

Oando Plc led on the gainers’ table with a gain of N3.57 to close at N57.00 per share while Berger Paints (Nig) Plc followed with N1.12 to close at N8.06 per share.
On the other hand, Forty-seven stocks depreciated in price during the week, lower than the seventy-one of the preceding week.
Two Petroleum (Marketing) stocks led on the price losers table. As in the preceding week, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc led on the price losers’ table, dropping by N14.45 to close at N133.89 per share while Total Nigeria Plc followed with a loss of N12.50 to close at N237.50 per share.
Meanwhile, two equity prices were adjusted for dividend as recommended by the Board of Directors. C & I Leasing Plc was adjusted for dividend of N0.02 per share. Dangote Flour Mills Plc was adjusted for dividend of N0.50 per share.
Also, three new securities were admitted on the Daily Official List on Tuesday, September 21, 2010. These are: N50 billion Bayelsa State Government Development Bond 2009/2016
N57.7 billion Lagos State Government Fixed Rate Bond (Series 2) 2010/2017 under the N275 billion debt issuance programme and UACN Property Development Company Plc N15 billion 10 per cent Fixed Rate Unsecured Non-Convertible Bond 2010/2015 (series 1) under the N30 billion debt issuance programme. With the development, the number of securities listed on the market increased to 264.
NSE also announced the delisting of a total of 37,924,787 from the Issued Shares of Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc on Wednesday, September 15, 2010 having secured the order of the Federal High Court, Lagos on Wednesday, September 1, 2010. The Insurance Company, according to NSE, executed a share back.

Also last week, BGL Asset Management Limited said it has concluded plans to sale N2 billion units of shares and N500 million units of both BGL Sapphire Fund and BGL Nubian Fund at the price of N1.00 per share.
 The floating of the offers, which is to commence on October 4, 2010, was preceded by a completion board meeting, held in Lagos, last week where the bank and all the financial advisers to the offers signed the necessary documents.
 The Chairman of the Fund, Mr. Albert Okumagba, said the date of closure of the offers is slated for November 10, 2010, adding that both offers are payable in full on application.
According to him, the units of the BGL Sapphire Fund are 10,000, with multiples of 1,000 units thereafter.
He explained that the fund achieves competitive returns for investors who are interested in earning attractive returns from the medium to long-term basis by investing in a diversified portfolio of fixed-income securities, as the principal sum invested in the fund is guaranteed against any diminution in value provided the units are held for a minimum of three months.
The units in the fund, according to him, may be purchased at the subscription price during the offer period while additional unit in the fund would be created subsequently and purchased on demand by subscribers on a continuous basis.