WE are of the belief that the second quarter will record a better performance than the first quarter. This is based on the performance recorded in the first quarter. Stock performance in the first quarter is remarkable because most of banking stocks which are prominent players in the market have yet to publish their full year reports.
They have their year end in December and most of them have not been able to make public their 2009 full year result as at 31st March 2010 which is the first quarter. We are envisaging that not less than 20 companies will come with their result in this second quarter and most of them will definitely surprise and reward patient investors, therefore there is likelihood that some of them will perform more than expectation and this will trigger the market.
In addition to that, we have seen the performance of most of the manufacturing companies that have their year end in December. Stocks like Nestle Nigeria Plc and Unilever Nigeria Plc have declared their results. we are waiting to receive other stocks like Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Flour Mills, Cadbury Nigeria and many other manufacturing companies like Ashaka Cement, Cement Company of Northern Nigerian (CCNN) are  expected to declare their results in this second quarter. We are expecting them to release good result so that this will bring up their prices and All Share Index (ASI) will be for the better.
Do not forget that most of the insurance companies have their year end in December but majority of them are trading at per value because the market is not sure of the results they are likely going to release but hopefully some will come with good results even possibly with dividends. We have so far seen the first quarter result of Royal Exchange, stocks like International Energy and AIICO Insurance and we are expecting their final result and by the time they come out with full year result we believe it will trigger the market and promote market activities.
Not only that, the Asset Management Company of Nigerian (Amcon) act is likely to be finalised and endorsed by the Senate, and by the time the acting president signs it, we hope that it will recover assets of not less than N1.3 trillion from 10 rescued banks.  This will increase the interest of investors particularly the speculators to start speculating on most of these managed stocks.
We have seen the pension funds. their deposits are getting mature they are no longer willing to roll over at the current interest rate so they rather increase their portfolio, that is why stocks that has good fundamentals and meet their requirement will continue to move the index up and therefore uplift the market.
In addition to this, the foreign investors have seen the performance of the market in the first quarter and they are not going to wait at the gallery and watching. they are willing and ready to play the market. We have seen the inflow, which is why the average investor in the market is keen on increase; no doubt the inflow by the foreign portfolio manager will lift the market.
However, history keeps on repeating itself and that is why analysts always say ‘no body can predict the market’. What happened in the last two years should serve as a lesson, those stocks that have no fundamental, stocks that not declare their first, second, third and fourth quarter results should not be given  chance in the market, but now that is not the case, the stocks that gained the highest return in terms of price appreciation in this first quarter, for instance Ikeja Hotel gained 149 per cent, Sterling Bank gained119 per cent, FTN Cocoa gained 105 per cent, Daar Communication gained 98 per cent and Eternal Oil and Gas gained 90 per cent have not released their first quarter result talk less of second and third quarter result. The question to ask is why these stocks gained and be among the top 10 in the first quarter 2010 without releasing results?, the simple answer is that speculators are playing a prominent role in this market and whether you like it or not these speculators  are there to speculate, gamble and get dough from it.
As at today Ikeja Hotel keep on gaining 5 per cent while Eternal Oil has not done bad even though nobody has seen their last four quarter result, these stocks keep on appreciating on daily basis because speculators play their role but we are advising investors to concentrate on those stocks that meet Pencom requirements, concentrate on the company that have all it takes to move up the price. At the end of the first quarter over 52 companies appreciated in terms of price which mean more than 25 per cent of the entire market have performed over and above ASI.
The best is not yet over because when you take more of these blue chip stocks such as Flour Mills of Nigeria, Nestle Nigeria, Dangote Flour Mills, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) and quite a number of them are still under valued and they are trading below their PE ratio of 10 per cent. In a market were an average PE ratio is 10 to 15 per cent and somebody is trading less than 10 it means that there is more room for progress. We are appealing to the investors as much as you can speculate with your money try to pay attention to the fundamentals, look at those stocks that meet the pension funds requirements.