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Investors at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday recorded
more losses on the value of their equities, as market closed trading on
negative note.

The NSE market capitalisation of the 194 First-Tier equities
closed on Thursday at N7.775 trillion after opening the day at N7.969 trillion,
reflecting 2.43 per cent decline or N194 billion losses. The market has lost
over N399 billion since transaction started this week.

Commenting on Thursday’s trading performance, analysts at
Proshare Nigeria Limited, an investment advisory firm, said the continuous
downward trend could be attributed to “the intense sell activities” by
investors, adding that the sell pressures were “very dominant in some blue
chips stocks” in sectors like Banking, Building Materials, Breweries, and
Foreign Listings.

Stockbrokers at GTI Capital, a stockbroking firm, said the
market had “staged a stabilisation trial during the better hours of trade only
to tumble and succumb to sellers’ mood at the concluding session.”

Low gainers

At the close of trading on Thursday, the number of gainers
closed lower at 10 stocks as against the 14 gainers recorded previous session;
while losers also closed lower at 42 stocks when compared with the 45 losers
recorded on Wednesday.

Transnational Corporation and Red Star Express topped the price
gainers’ table with an increase of 4.35 per cent and 4.26 per cent, to close at
72 kobo and N2.94 per share, respectively.

Starcomms and Goldlink Insurance followed on the gainers’ table
with an increase of 3.80 and 3.64 per cent, to close at 82 kobo and 57 kobo per
share.

On the flip side, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Stanbic IBTC Bank, and
Cement Company of Northern Nigeria led the price losers’ chart with a loss of
five per cent each, to close at N12.35, N8.74 and N10.84 per share,
respectively. First City Monument Bank followed with a loss of 4.99 per cent,
to close at N6.48 per share.

Active subsector

The Banking subsector led the market transaction volume on
Thursday with 107.122 million units valued at N788.799 million. The volume
recorded in the subsector was driven by transaction in the shares of Diamond
Bank, First Bank, Oceanic Bank, and Skye Bank.

Trading activities in the Insurance subsector was second highest
yesterday, with 36.063 million shares valued at N29.005 million. Volume in the
subsector was boosted by deals in shares of Goldlink Insurance, Aiico
Insurance, and Mutual Benefit Assurance.

The Conglomerates subsector was third with 33.694 million shares
valued at N874.380 million. PZ Cussons Nigeria, Transnational Corporation, and
Unilever Nigeria boosted volume in the subsector yesterday.

The Bureau of
Public Enterprises (BPE) has issued the requirement for the next stage
of the privatisation process of distribution companies created out of
the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

The director
general of the Bureau, Bolanle Onagoruwa, said on receipt of
Information Memorandum and Request for Proposal, pre-qualified bidders
will be given access to physical and e-data room; will be able to carry
out physical due diligence; will be issued with draft copies of the
Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO); will be encouraged to submit comments
on MYTO; and Bidder comments on MYTO will be subject of conference to
be organised by sector regulator (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory
Commission).

The Nigerian
privatisation agency chief made the remarks on Tuesday as a panel
discussant at POWERINBADA in Johannesburg, South Africa, according to a
press statement on the firm’s website.

A total of 331
applications were received by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on
Friday, March 4, 2011 – the deadline for the submission of Expressions
of Interest (EOIs) in the privatisation of the successor companies
created out of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN.)

One hundred and
seventy four applications were received from prospective
investors/concessionaires interested in acquiring the four thermal
stations and the two hydro stations. One hundred and fifty seven
applications were harvested from prospective investors interested in
acquiring the eleven distribution companies.

Mrs. Onagoruwa told
her audience that the reform of the Nigerian power sector presents
enormous investment opportunities, adding that the government has put
in place investment-friendly initiatives. This includes the fact that
foreigners can own 100 per cent of investment; that there is guarantee
against expropriation of investments; that repatriation of profits are
guaranteed by law; that there will be generous tax incentives; and that
the nation has one of the highest Returns on Investment (ROI) in the
world.

She pointed out
that the objectives of the electric power sector reform are to increase
electrification; ensure cost reflective tariffs; attract private sector
investments into the sector; create competitive electricity market;
induce investments in new power generation facilities; rehabilitate
existing power generation facilities; improve efficiency by increasing
collections; reduce costs and technical and non-technical losses; and
improve customer service.

Chukwuma Nwokoh,
the spokesperson of the firm, said the firms would have to be
shortlisted first, before the request for proposals would be sent to
the successful ones.

“We would
shortlist, and then when we do, we would send them their Request for
Proposal. It is the next stage after the submission of Expressions of
Interest.”

The core investor
sales to be carried out through international competitive bidding will
cover the eleven electricity distribution companies in the country.
They are Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Benin Electricity
Distribution Company Plc; Enugu Electricity Distribution Company Plc;
Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Ibadan Electricity
Distribution Company Plc; and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company
Plc.

Others are Jos
Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Kaduna Electricity Distribution
Company Plc; Kano Electricity Distribution Company Plc; Port Harcourt
Electricity Distribution Company Plc; and Yola Electricity Distribution
Company Plc.

The Nigeria Export Import (NEXIM) Bank plans to spend about $40
million (N6 billion) within the next two years to support potential buyers of
Nigerian products in order to boost the country’s export market.

Managing director and chief executive, Roberts Orya, told
reporters in Abuja on Wednesday that the aim is to make Nigerian products more
competitive within the sub region.

“As part of our mandate to facilitate and promote Nigeria’s
trade, NEXIM has engaged consultants in the region to develop a sea-link
project, which is expected to culminate in the establishment of a company to be
owned by investors from all ECOWAS sub-region, to facilitate sea transportation
of goods across the region,” Mr. Orya said.

Potentials and opportunities

According to him, the bank has set an ambitious target on how to
deepen cross border trade and payment system within the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region and Africa, to make it the traditional
market for exporters, as is the practice in most EXIM (Export Import) banks
around the world.

“What we have in the ECOWAS or the Central African region is a
non-traditional market, which nobody wants to go and do business, while we
allow other countries’ EXIM banks to take advantage of the huge potentials and
opportunities.

“If trade in the sub-region is deepened, it will help create
jobs and halt capital flight within the region, while every benefit that go
with deepening of trade would come to the region,” he said.

In order to discontinue the current scenario of huge non
performing loans among its clients, he said the institution has resolved to
follow stringent conditions in approving fresh facilities to prospective
beneficiaries.

Out of a total portfolio of over N10 billion recorded in its
books as non-performing loans to various groups since 2009, the bank has been
able to recover less than N1billion.

Tackling non performing
loans

“Loan recovery is usually a challenge in Nigeria. As at August
2009, the total amount of non-performing loans that had 100 per cent provision,
based on the grading of the prudential guidelines, was only N10.03 bilion.
NEXIM was able to recover about N540 million that year; less than N300 million
was recovered between January and December last year,” Mr. Orya said.

A special remedial management department, he said, has been
established charged with the responsibility of following up on customers on a
daily basis to help reduce the high level of non-performing loans, while
stricter conditions are to be adopted in approving future loans facilities.

“We have decided to carry on this transformation, knowing that
going forward, any credit to be created must be of good quality. Apart from the
one per cent general provision that the prudential guidelines require the bank
to make, we do not want to create any bad loans. We have taken time to
establish the pillars necessary to ensure that the bank does not go the same
way in the next two to three years, in terms of bad loans.

“We have learnt from our mistakes. We must ensure that any money
that is given is judiciously used. Any exporter that is not prepared to comply
with our conditions would not be attended to, as there are no political loans
in NEXIM. Any project that the bank must support must be bankable and viable.
Such projects must not only be able to pay back itself, but must also be seen
by all that the capacity is there to do so,” he declared.

He said the bank would henceforth be more concerned with its
ability to generate more foreign exchange for the country as well as facilitate
jobs creation, pointing out that only businesses with healthy balance sheets as
well as those with proven capacity to make sufficient returns to their
shareholders and those in a position to approach the international capital
market to raise money and have good relationships with other EXIM banks around
the world enjoy its patronage.

According to him, Nigeria, with a population of over 150
million, is well-placed to control the political and economic advantages within
the ECOWAS sub-region, pointing out that NEXIM, as Nigeria’s trade policy bank,
is poised to take up the challenge.

Nigeria’s crude oil output dropped 3.8 per cent in February at
2.098m barrels per day (bpd), though it remained Africa’s top oil producer,
outperforming Angola (1.704m bpd), Libya (1.347m bpd), and Algeria (1.261m
bpd).

In its March Monthly Oil Market Report released this week, the
Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) estimated the nation’s
crude oil output at 2.098m barrels per day (bpd) in February, from 2.181m bpd
in January, and 2.192m bpd in December.

Samir Gadio, Emerging Market strategist, Standard Bank, says
these statistics seem to suggest that a sizeable increase in production in the
short-to-medium term looks somewhat unlikely, until new oil fields come on
stream and the existing infrastructure operates at a higher capacity.

“Although last month’s output was still up 7.4 per cent year on
year, the annual growth rate in the data flattened further, in line with our
expectations, given the sharp rebound and subsequent stabilisation in output
since November 2009, as the security situation in the Niger Delta region
broadly improved. Additionally, the average crude oil production (2.139m bpd)
has edged up 8.5 per cent year on year said,” Mr. Gadio said.

“Overall, the turnaround in output since late 2009 as well as
the rally in the Bonny Light oil price in 2011 should theoretically translate
into a significantly positive trade balance and robust current account
surplus,” he added.

Foreign reserves
accretion

Experts believe that the surge in the oil price (and a somewhat
stable output) is translating into an increase in foreign exchange reserves,
which reached $35.9 billion on 10 March 11, up from $3.6 billion.

“Although it is difficult to estimate the breakdown in the
accumulation of foreign exchange reserves between Central Bank’s monetised
proceeds and the Excess Crude Account (ECA), it is worth stressing that the
finance minister, Olusegun Aganga, indicated in February that oil-related
savings had resumed this year.

“In this case, we should see a rapid rebound in the ECA balance,
given the substantial differential between the current oil price and the
proposed oil price benchmark in the draft of the 2011 budget ($65 per barrel),”
Mr. Gadio further said.

World economic growth remains robust and continuing improvements
have led to improved growth expectations for 2011, which have been adjusted 0.1
per cent higher to 4.0 per cent, according to the OPEC report, though inflation
is beginning to pose a challenge for policy makers in both the OECD and the
developing countries.

Afrinvest, a finance research and analysis firm, said the
government has offered to increase its crude oil production, on OPEC’s request,
to cool soaring oil prices.

“Oil prices last week rose to their highest point in more than
two years, as the social unrest in Libya reduced global supply by as much as
1.0 million barrels per day. Nigeria’s Bonny Light is similar to the type of
oil produced by Libya and would be a good replacement for refiners, who are
currently lacking adequate supplies because of the North African crisis.

“Nigeria has a combined crude oil and condensate output of
around 2.4m bpd, with a production capacity of around 3.0m bpd,” the firm said.

Splitting the atom
was a major technological feat for humankind. Releasing energy from it
for electricity production was yet another major step towards
supporting the unfolding path of civilisation.

The worst memories
of the deliberate unleashing of the power of a nuclear device remain
the exploding of atomic bombs over Japanese towns of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in 1945, towards the end of the Second World War.

In terms of nuclear
accidents of monumental disaster, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in
Ukraine (then in the former Soviet Union) has no match. Many deaths and
severe health problems followed this accident. The radioactivity that
accompanied the Chernobyl accident was several times higher than what
was unleashed by the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during the Second
World War.

The radiation
spread as far as Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, and parts of France and
Italy. The Chernobyl accident was adjudged to have resulted from human
error, including design defects. It was also accompanied by a series of
attempts to cover up the impacts, as well as a shrouding of the
exploded reactors in defective concrete.

Today, the world is
alarmed by the massive impacts of the 8.9 or 9.0 magnitude earthquake
that struck off the coast of Honshu Island in Japan. The combined
effect of the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami has astonished a
watching world, brought great misery to the people of Japan, and raised
a huge question mark about how prepared we can ever be for natural
disasters.

Everyone accepts
that Japan is well equipped and prepared to handle earthquakes, with
building codes and other emergency infrastructure set to deal with such
happenstance. What has added a new twist to the current situation is
the impact that the earthquake and tsunami has had on Japan’s nuclear
power plants.

An explosion at the
Daiichi plant near Fukushima on March 12 raised anxieties. The
explosion blew off the upper exterior walls of the plant. The standby
diesel generator that would have pumped water to cool the plant failed
one hour after the earthquake struck, leading to the overheating of the
water and resulting in the explosion.

The authorities
announced that the reactor core of the plant was safe, and that there
wasn’t a huge radiation leak. Nevertheless, over 100, 000 people had to
be moved, owing to fears of radiation impacts. The evacuation zone
stretched over 20 kilometres radius of the plant. Over the next few
days, the radiation kept below acceptable official levels, although
anxiety levels remained high.

A more severe
explosion early on March 15 raised radiation levels, increasing fears
that the containment vessel of reactor 2 had been damaged. The
evacuation of emergency workers from the power plant signified the
possibility of a nuclear catastrophe.

The nuclear game is
getting a link to soccer in Brazil where there are plans to bring a new
nuclear power plant on stream, early enough to provide electricity for
the 2014 FIFA World Cup fiesta the country would then be hosting. The
country already runs two nuclear power plants that came into use in
1985 and 2000, meeting 50 per cent of the electricity needs of the
state of Rio de Janeiro. Environmental concerns are being addressed
through pledges to adhere to rules. But pledges are not so reassuring
in these matters.

Closer home in
Africa, the drive towards nuclear power is gathering momentum. South
Africa already invests huge sums in this mode of energy generation and
produces 5 per cent of its electricity from nuclear plants. Uranium
rich countries such as Namibia believe that this is a way to boost
economic development. There have even been talks of the possibility of
building floating nuclear plants off the coast of Namibia.

Although Namibia is
not earthquake prone, this does not sound like an exciting or safe way
to go. Apart from the risks involved in operating nuclear power plants,
it is not quite clear to whom the country plans to export the surplus
electricity that would be generated by this plant. One could venture to
say that floating nuclear plants would be dynamic power generators and
may be moved closer to export markets, possibly as far away as energy
starved Nigeria.

The incident from
Japan also underscores the need to move away from mega power
infrastructures that depend on extensive distribution grids. It
suggests that nations should invest in the development of renewable
energy sources from abundant solar, wind, and other resources, rather
than embark on high-risk technologies that we cannot quite control.

It is also a time
to realise the viability of localised energy provision on the basis of
energy autonomy for discrete zones and communities. This would be
cheaper to deliver and ensures better energy supply, including during
crisis situations.

Considering
Nigeria’s emergency response preparedness and capacities in simple
areas like fires, oil spills, and industrial accidents, as well as the
quality of maintenance of our hydropower and other plants, venturing
into the nuclear power arena here is nothing short of courting
disaster.

Demand
for foreign exchange is gradually edging up, as the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN) offered $1.3 billion so far this month at the official
Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS) window.

Even
though there are five more auctions for the month of March, the amount
so far traded exceeds the average traded figure since the beginning of
the year.

A
total of $2.25 billion was traded in January while $1.7 billion was
traded in February. In January, an average of $281 million was traded
per session while $242 million was traded in February. For March, an
average of $325 million has been the figure so far, even though it is
still the middle of the month. This represents an increase of over 34
per cent from the previous month.

Upsurge

The
upsurge in foreign exchange demand comes amidst mixed expectations from
operators on the direction of the market this week. Analysts at FSDH
Securities Limited, a financial advisory and investment firm, stated
that there would not be much pressure on that window of the financial
market.

“We
are of the opinion that the current fiscal position of the Federal
Government should not exert excessive demand pressure on the foreign
exchange. Thus, we expect the foreign exchange rate to remain stable in
the short to medium term,” the firm stated in its report for last week.

However,
the naira has continued to face undue pressure due to market forces.
While the national currency closed last week at N150.79 to the dollar,
it declined to N150.90 at Monday’s trading, a drop of 0.07 per cent.
The naira sold N155.50 at the parallel market, a decline of 0.71 per
cent from the previous trading.

This
development, according to Afrinvest, a Lagos-based financial services
firm, is due to the sustained level of demand for the dollar and
reduced inflows from oil majors.

“We
expect further downward pressure on the naira this week as we do not
foresee any significant increase in supply by the CBN,” the firm
reported.

Speculative activities

Currency dealers, however, blame the activities of speculators for the current dip in the value of the naira.

According
to Suleman Gali, a bureau de change operator in Marina, even the banks
are increasing their rates due to the pressure to sell to currency
speculators.

“We
were selling at N157 to the dollar only for my bank to send me a mail
this morning (yesterday) increasing their selling price to N157.50.
Automatically, we also had to increase,” Mr. Gali said.

He
said the Central Bank would need to monitor the banks to ensure that
they respect the two per cent band, which is the official rate approved
by the regulator between buying and selling.

“Since
last week, the banks have been increasing their rate. So, instead of
selling direct to us, they prefer to sell internally to people who are
ready to pay more,” he added.

Attractive entry point

Samir
Gadio, Emerging Markets Strategist, Standard Bank, said the current
weakness of the naira represents an attractive entry point for
investors ready to position for a post-electoral rally in the foreign
exchange market in April 2011.

“Dollar
to naira has traded above the +3 per cent upper end of the Central Bank
exchange rate objective (156.2 on 15 March), probably driven by the
usual uncertainty associated with any electoral cycle in African
countries and rising corporate and speculative demand at the WDAS
window, as well as in the inter-bank market.

“We also think the forthcoming initiation of a forward market for
30-, 60- and 90-day tenors by the Central Bank should further support
naira by smoothing foreign exchange demand and volatility,” Mr. Gadio
said.

FirstRand, South
Africa’s No. 2 banking group, is in advanced talks with Nigeria’s
Sterling Bank over making a strategic investment in the lender, banking
sources familiar with the deal said.

Managing director,
Sizwe Nxasana, who took over the reins of FirstRand over a year ago,
told Reuters last year the South African bank was looking to invest
“meaningful amounts of capital” in Nigeria and would fund any deal from
its reserves.

It was the first
foreign bank to announce its interest in buying one out of the nine
Nigerian banks rescued by Central Bank in a $4 billion bailout in 2009
but later got cold feet.

Banking sources
said FirstRand prefer to enter the Nigerian market through a strategic
alliance with a healthy local bank and would be looking to deploy
around $300-$400 million to fund such an investment.

Sterling Bank, not
one of the bailed-out banks, has a market valuation of around 33.7
billion naira ($225 million) as at March 10. FirstRand and Sterling
Bank both declined to comment.

“They (FirstRand) are looking at making a strategic investment in Sterling,” one banking source told Reuters.

Apart from FirstRand, other deals are looming in
Nigeria’s banking sector as new investors seek to recapitalise the
rescued banks and a state-run “bad bank”. AMCON has set a June
timeframe to resolve the country’s banking crisis.

Banking sources
said a consortium involving Vine Capital, a relatively unknown private
equity firm, has put in a bid to acquire Finbank after the lender
dismissed an earlier bid by local rival, First City Monument Bank
(FCMB).

“Finbank rejected FCMB’s bid and asked Vine Capital to make a bid,” another source told Reuters, declining to be named.

Banking sources
said Vine Capital has signed a recapitalisation agreement with Afribank
and intends to bid for Finbank in order to merge it with Afribank.

Central Bank
governor, Lamido Sanusi, said last week two of the rescued banks have
signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with new investors and two more
should sign this week or next.

Mr. Sanusi said he expected the deals to be completed within 8 to 12 weeks of the agreements being signed.

“The MoU more or
less captures negotiations that have been completed. What is left is
basically … implementation of the terms, obtaining the necessary
shareholder and regulatory approvals,” Mr. Sanusi told Reuters in an
interview in his office.

Reuters

Nigeria’s inflation
rate stood at 11.1 per cent year-on-year in February 2011. This is
lower than 12.1 per cent recorded in the previous month in the new
Composite Consumer Price Index (CPI) series released by the nation’s
bureau of statistics. The monthly change of the CPI was 0.96 per cent
improvement when compared with January 2011.

The percentage
change in the average composite CPI for the twelve-month period ending
February 2011, over the average of the CPI for the previous
twelve-month period was 13.2, slightly lower than the figure for the
preceding month.

Average monthly
food prices rose by 2.9 per cent in February 2011 when compared with
January 2011 figure. The bureau says the increase in the month-on-month
index was caused mainly by upward movement of the prices of some food
items like yam, beverages, fruits, vegetables, fish, and cereals.

The ‘All items less
Farm Produce’ index, which excludes the prices of agricultural
products, increased by 0.9 per cent in February 2011 when compared with
January 2011. The increase was mainly on some household items, building
materials, diesel, and kerosene.

In the twelve-month
to January 2011, the index rose by 10.6 per cent while the average
annual rate of rise of the index was 12.1 percent for the twelve-month
period ending February 2011.

Bismarck Rewane,
managing director, Financial Derivatives Company, said a relatively
stable exchange rate and the fact that the dollar appreciated against
other currencies are some of the reasons behind the drop.

“Nigeria’s
inflation rate has fallen. This could be a reflection of the relatively
stable foreign exchange rate over the months. The prices of imported
goods may not have influenced the market as they used to because of the
stable rate.

“However, this
doesn’t mean that prices of goods have gone down; it doesn’t mean that
general prices have actually reduced. This means that the rate at which
prices increase have reduced,” Mr. Rewane said.

“This is happening probably because the Central Bank is holding the forex rate stable, within a specific range,” he added.

Samir Gadio,
Emerging Markets Strategist, Standard Bank, says given the surge in oil
price and the turnaround in oil output, the Central Bank is keen to
support exchange rate stability.

“Oil production and
price dynamics, coupled with incrementally tangible signs of some
fiscal restraint in 2011, as government borrowing declined sharply in
recent months, should ultimately support the Central Bank’s willingness
and ability to maintain the exchange rate within the +/-3 per cent
range around the 150 dollar to naira level.

“Furthermore, the
Central Bank’s governor, Lamido Sanusi, reiterated several times in
recent weeks that any currency devaluation would have a negative effect
on inflation and other macroeconomic control variables, but would not
necessarily result in improved external competitiveness, due to the
structural and infrastructure bottlenecks of the economy and its
import-dependent nature,” Mr. Gadio said.

Experts say the
monetary tightening by the Central Bank since September 2010 has helped
curtail naira liquidity and contain speculative demand for the dollar.

The Monetary Policy
Rate was gradually rose by 50 basis points to 6.5 per cent between the
September and January Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings, and the
Standing Deposit Facility rate was raised 350 basis points to 4.5 per
cent in the same period.

Outlook

The chances of the
Central Bank increasing rates further at the next Monetary Policy
Committee meeting to be held later in the month are reasonably high,
according to forecasts by industry watchers.

“The exchange rate
has come under pressure again and the risks to inflation remain to the
upside, despite the drop in consumer prices to 11.1 per cent year on
year in February, from 12.1per cent in January,” Mr. Gadio said.

The Nigerian Stock
Exchange recorded a total loss of N260 billion on equities at the close
of trading activities in February, after recording significant gains of
N662 billion in the preceding month.

The market value of
the 217 listed equities, which opened the month at N8.575 trillion,
closed on the last trading day in February at N8.315 trillion,
reflecting a N260 billion loss or 3.03 per cent decline.

The 217 listed
equities accounted for 80.74 per cent of total market capitalisation of
the 263 listed securities, which closed February at N10.298 trillion;
down by 2.7 per cent from the N10.583 trillion in January.

The Exchange’s
strategy and business development department said the downturn in stock
market activities, which started in late-January and continued during
February, “severely constrained growth” of the Nigerian capital market.

“The stock market
continued to suffer from low liquidity arising from low incomes and
reduced savings, mixed performance by quoted companies, and profit
taking/loss cutting,” the NSE said, adding that “the scenario continued
to dampen investors’ confidence.”

Low turnover

The market recorded
a turnover of 6.5 billion shares valued at N60.61 billion in 119,477
deals during February, in contrast to a total of 10.84 billion shares
valued at N104.1 billion exchanged during January in 139,950 deals.
Trading days last month were 19 compared with the 20 days in January.

Aggregate stock
market turnover between January and February were 17.334 billion shares
valued at N164.7 billion exchanged in 259,427 deals.

In the comparable
period during 2010, the market recorded turnover of 16.14 billion
shares valued at N100.8 billion in 429,306 deals.

Measuring by
turnover volume, the Banking subsector was the most active in February
with traded volume of 4.5 billion shares valued at N37.3 billion, while
the Insurance subsector was second with traded volume of 450.23 million
shares valued at N666.9 million. The Maritime subsector was third with
transaction volume of 218.41 million valued at N390.56 million.

Aanalysts at
Financial Derivatives Company Limited, a business consultancy firm,
said as trading proceed in the year, market drivers would be “the
progress of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria,” activities of
“investors taking position in anticipation of favourable year end
results” of some quoted companies, and “expansion of operations by
listed foreign multinationals.”

Bond trading

Over-The-Counter
(OTC) bond market, a turnover of 926.1 million units worth N841.05
billion was recorded in February 2011, in contrast to a total of 875.62
million shares valued at N801.134 billion exchanged during the
preceding month.

The most active
bond, in terms of volume, was the 10.00 per cent Federal Government of
Nigeria (FGN) Bond July 2030, with a traded volume of 218.6 million
units valued at N170.2 billion. It was followed by 5.50 per cent FGN
Feb 2013, with traded volume of 206.9 million units valued at N194.2
billion.

Only 24 of the available 33 FGN Bonds were traded during the month, same as in the preceding month.

As in the preceding
month, the most active bond, in terms of volume, was the 10.00 per cent
Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bond July 2030 with a traded volume
of 269.4 million units valued at N214.54 billion.

It was followed by
5.50 per cent FGN Feb 2013 with traded volume of 199.85 million units
valued at N191.4 billion. Only 21 of the available 32 FGN Bonds were
traded during the month, compared with the 24 in the preceding month.

An explosion was
heard at a Nigerian onshore oil flow station operated by Agip in the
Niger Delta on Wednesday, security sources said, but the cause was not
immediately clear.

A joint military
task force confirmed there had been an explosion in Bayelsa State in
the Niger Delta, but did not specify the exact location. Italian oil
firm, Agip, was not immediately available for comments.

The explosion was heard in the early hours at Agip’s Clough Creek oil flowstation in Bayelsa, one security source said.