Impressive half year results posted by some companies last week sustained the positive trend in the equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as the bench mark, index NSE All share Index hit 11-month high.

Though the market opened the reviewed week on a bullish note, the bears set in due to attempted profit-taking by some investors. The bears were, however, halted as the remaining three trading days of the week witnessed a renewed demand pushing the All-Share index up by 2.8 percent having opened at 22,110.91 basis points to close at 22,741.06 basis points.

Market watchers say the last time the all-share attained that level was August 2011. The NSE All share Index exceeded the 22,000 threshold in May and the highest in that mouth was 22,665.99 basis points.

Also, the second market performance gauges, the aggregate market capitalization of listed equities gained gained 285 basis points to finish higher at N7.26 trillion having opened at N7.04 trillion.

Four out of the Five Sectorial indices finished in the green. The NSE-30 index added 630.15 points representing 9.70 per cent rise even as the NSE Consumer Goods Index garnered 23.43 points indicating 2.27 per cent increase while the NSE Banking-10 index chalked 26.20 points or 1.43 percent rise. The NSE Insurance-10 index appreciated by 1.48 points or 1.16 per cent growth while the NSE oil and gas-5 index dipped by 0.63 points or 0.36 per cent drop.

The market recorded a total turnover volume of 1.459 billion units of shares valued at N9.618 billion exchanged by investors in 18,276 transactions up from a total of 1.007 billion units of shares worth N8.507 billion traded the previous week in 18,352 deals.

Meanwhile, in the over-the-counter bond market, the 20-year, 10.00 per cent FGN July 2030 bond gained N0.23 even as yield dropped to 14.60 per cent while the 5-year 4.00 per cent FGN April 2015 debt paper appreciated by N0.15 even as yield decreased to 15.91 per cent.

On the flipside saw the 10-year, 7.00 per cent FGN October 2009 debt paper dropping N0.10 while yield moderated to 16.07 per cent. The 7-year 9.25 per cent FGN September 2014 debt paper also lost N0.14 with its yield increasing to 15.91 per cent just as the 3-year, 10.50 per cent FGN March 2013 bond mellowed by N0.15 with yield surging to 15.89 percent.

The re-opening bonds this week will consist of 5-year, 15.10 per cent FGN April 2017 bond valued at N25 billion, 7-year 16.00 percent FGN June 2019 debt paper worth N25 billion and 10-year 16.39 per cent FGN January 2022 paper at the value of N25 billion. The total value of FGN bonds to be issued by the Debt management office stands at N75 billion.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the week under review sold treasury bills worth n95.56 billion. The apex bank sold N30.16 billion of 91-day paper at 13.75 per cent at its ???-monthly auction compared with 14.90 per cent at its previous auction.

Vivian-Peace Nwinaene