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The stock market opened the week on a rather bearish note that
almost threw the market off its balance. The timely bull’s response on the
fourth trading day of the week was a welcome development, as it re-affirms the
market normality. Inspite of the bull’s weak response, it successfully clears investors’
mind on reasons behind ASI drop. Although equities, especially those in the
banking sectors, became attractive and turned on complete bid, the Nigerian
Stock Exchange All Share Index (NSE ASI) is yet to recover from the bear’s
knife, as it closed low at 2.27% or 572.57 points off its opening figure, and
now stands at 24,611.56. Market capitalization of the listed equities now
stands at N7.859 trillion.

The banking stocks dominated market performance, as investors
exchanged a total of 1.11 billion units of its equities’ shares through the
week. The said volume were chiefly enhanced by volume in the shares of Zenith
Bank, that traded 185.23 million units of shares in 1,757 transactions.
Guaranty Trust Assurance, AIICO, and Law Union & Rock boosted performance
in the Insurance sector with over 47 million units of shares. Mortgage,
Information & Communication and Food/Beverages sub-sectors followed in that
order.

The 30 stocks that gained were led by Vono Products that was
moved by market forces. The stock moved up by 14.15% from N1.06 to N1.21.
University Press, Eternal Oil, and Fidelity Bank followed on gainers’ line in
that order. Meanwhile, the 61 decliners were led by Livestock, Oceanic Bank,
International Breweries, and Wema Bank that shed 16.05%, 13.95%, 13.64% and
13.33% respectively. A total of 112 stocks closed the week on a flat note.

Corporate actions for the week ended

Prestige Assurance Plc

The indemnity firm, Prestige Assurance Plc, made available its
interim Q3 unaudited results to the market. It was for the period ended
September 30, 2010. Operation wise, the firm performance was up within the
period. Driven by fairly improved claims settlement, gross premium went up by
15.81% from N2.73 billion in comparable period Q3 ‘09 to N3.16 billion.

Similarly, PAT was up by 22.09% at N573.06 million, against
N469.38 million in Q3 ‘09. Shareholders’ fund grew marginally by 9% at N4.75
billion.

Further analysis shows that Q3 EPS stands at 27 kobo, 23% growth
over 22 kobo returned in Q3 ‘09. At current market price, PE multiple of 8.15
was generated and presents Prestige attractive for medium-long term investment.
Its earning yield currently stands at 11.85%, while net profit margin of 18.15%
is slightly higher than 17.71% posted in Q3 ‘09. Returns on stakeholders’
investment on every N1.00 within the period was 12% higher than 11% in
comparable period.

Observation

Liquidity is a major challenge on the price movement of
Prestige. Possibility of dividend payment in the upcoming financial year ending
Q4 ‘10 is high here.

Eterna Oil & Gas Plc

The oil marketing, servicing, and distribution company, Eterna
Oil & Gas Plc, equally reported its Q3 unaudited results for the period
ended September 30, 2010 to the market last week. The scorecards showed
improved growth over similar period in 2009. A turnover of N11.16 billion was
posted against N6.76 billion in 2009, representing a growth of 65%. The growth
here was boosted by increase sales in fuel and gas products.

At reported profit after tax of N641.57 million, a growth of
202% was recorded against loss after tax of N627.05 million in similar period
2009. Further analysis shows that Q3 EPS now stands at 49 kobo, resulting in PE
ratio of 10.64 at current market price of N5.21. Return on capital employed
within the period was 15% on every N1.00, while profit margin stood at 5.75%.

Observation

At current ratios growth rate, Eterna Oil looks attractive for
medium-long term investment.

Report on the OTC market
for FGN Bonds

Available data from OTC FGN bonds market shows that a total
volume of 210.84 million units valued at N174.22 billion in 1,445 deals was
recorded this week, in contrast to a total of 88.7 million units worth N74.68
billion exchanged in 700 deals during the week ended Thursday, November 17,
2010.

As in the preceded week, the most active bond (measured by turnover volume)
was the 10.00% FGN July 2030 (7th FGN Bond 2030 Series 3), with a traded volume
of 78.4 million units valued at N59.51 billion in 561 deals. It was immediately
followed by 4.00% FGN April 2015 (7th FGN Bond 2015 Series 2), with a traded
volume of 58.3 million units worth N44.04 billion in 446 deals. Seventeen (17)
of the available thirty-five (35) FGN Bonds were traded during the week,
compared with nine (9) in the in the preceding week.