Economy
Investors Should Plan for Market Volatility in 2019—Report
**Says Oil Prices Could Rise to $85 Per Barrel
By Dipo Olowookere
As investors prepare for 2019, UBS Global Wealth Management said they (investors) will need to weather more volatility in order to capture opportunities in the coming year.
According to the Year Ahead report from UBS, the world’s leading wealth manager, global economic growth will decelerate next year to 3.6 percent from 3.8 percent in 2018, and company earnings will grow at a slower rate.
However, a 2019 recession still looks unlikely, and the price of many financial assets has already moved to reflect uncertain prospects, it said in its Global Investment Outlook For 2019.
UBS Global Wealth Management’s Chief Investment Office (CIO) enters the year with an overweight position in global equities.
However, it stressed that as the market cycle matures, investors should diversify and hedge their portfolios to guard against volatility as well as political and other risks, adding that they should also take advantage of growth in fields like sustainable and impact investing, and pockets of value where financial asset prices are excessively low.
Chief Investment Officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, Mr Mark Haefele, noted that, “Investors should retain positions in global equities but plan for market volatility. A slight slowdown in economic and earnings growth doesn’t mean no growth, and the recent sell-off has left a number of assets more attractively valued, but investors must also take into account the tense geopolitical environment as well as monetary policy tightening.”
In its investment process, CIO seeks to test its ideas against professional investors’ views. Surveys of professional investors and wealthy US-based individuals reveal divergent outlooks for the year ahead.
It said close to half of professional investors see the US lagging global markets next year, while two-thirds of individual investors surveyed expect US stocks to match or beat global equities.
In addition, nearly half of the professionals surveyed anticipate the US dollar declining versus the euro, compared with less than one-sixth of individual investors.
It noted that the most popular asset class for professional investors entering the new year is emerging market equities. For individual investors the top pick is US stocks. Professional investors are nevertheless more optimistic than individual investors on how much upside remains in the US equity bull market, adding that few professionals regard US political risk as a bigger threat than US-China trade tensions and higher interest rates. Individual investors are more concerned about US political risks than professionals are.
It further said when asked when the next recession will start, the most common answer among professional investors is 2021. Half of the individual investors surveyed expect the next recession to start within two years.
Investment recommendations
CIO recommends that investors should retain an overweight position in global equities as we enter 2019. Nevertheless, they should also hedge against volatility by holding overweight positions in medium-duration US government bonds and the Japanese yen, as well as focusing on quality companies and avoiding excessive credit risk. They should also look to neglected areas of the market, including value stocks in the US and emerging markets, energy equities globally, and shares of financial companies in the US and China. Sustainable and impact investing continues to provide longer-term growth opportunities, as do emerging market and Japanese stocks, and US dollar-denominated emerging market sovereign bonds.
Americas
The US Federal Reserve should approach the end of its tightening cycle in 2019, while the support from US fiscal stimulus should wane. In this context, the US’s twin fiscal and current account deficits will likely weigh on the US dollar. Within Latin America, investors should keep an eye on Brazil, where the incoming administration has proposed a range of reforms that could improve the country’s fiscal sustainability.
Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) & Switzerland
The European Central Bank should start to normalize interest rates in 2019, which would support the euro against the greenback.
A clear recovery by the euro is needed before the Swiss National Bank will hike rates, although the Swiss franc has limited scope to depreciate against the euro. Within emerging EMEA, CIO sees the recent sell off in crude oil prices as overdone, and expects prices to rise towards $85 per barrel over the next six to 12 months, supporting prospects for the Middle East. However, investors should continue to diversify globally to avoid idiosyncratic political risks in emerging EMEA as well as the Eurozone and the UK, which is scheduled to leave the European Union next year.
Asia Pacific
The Chinese Yuan should continue to decline, easing 5 percent in trade-weighted terms against a backdrop of ongoing US-China trade tensions, slowing Chinese economic growth, and a diminishing current account surplus. By contrast, in the wake of Japan’s Abenomics program, the Yen is more than 30 percent undervalued relative to its estimated equilibrium on a purchasing power parity basis. Japanese bond yields could also rise as the Bank of Japan embarks on a slow normalization of monetary policy.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The embargo earlier placed in the trading of Thomas Wyatt Nigeria shares has been lifted by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Regulation Limited.
The regulatory subsidiary of NGX Group lifted the suspension on Monday, July 6, 2026, via a notice signed by Bonaventure Onwuji on behalf of the Head of the Issuer Regulation Department of NGX RegCo.
Investors were earlier prevented from buying and selling equities of the organisation after it failed to submit its relevant financial statements as required by the listing rules.
The embargo was placed on October 31, 2025, in line with the provisions of Rule 3.1: Rules for Filing of Accounts and Treatment of Default Filing, which provides that if an issuer fails to file the relevant accounts by the expiration of the cure period, the exchange will: a) send to the issuer a second filing deficiency notification within two business days after the end of the cure period, b) suspend trading in the issuer’s securities, and c) notify the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the market within 24 hours of the suspension.
After filing the results with NGX Limited, and pursuant to Rule 3.3 of the Default Filing Rules, which states that the suspension of trading in the issuer’s securities shall be lifted upon submission of the relevant accounts provided the exchange is satisfied that the accounts comply with all applicable rules of the exchange. The exchange shall thereafter also announce through the medium by which the public and the SEC was initially notified of the suspension, that the suspension has been lifted, the suspension was lifted.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian domestic oil producer Renaissance Energy has recorded its first major oil discovery since taking over Oil Mining Lease (OML) 74 last year, following the successful drilling of an exploration well offshore Nigeria in a development that could support the country’s efforts to boost crude oil production and replenish reserves.
Preliminary results showed about 1,000 feet (305 metres) of crude oil-bearing reservoirs across seven zones, with data and fluid tests confirming light oil in high-quality reservoirs, Renaissance said in a statement, without providing further details.
OML 74 is a large shallow-water block in the eastern Niger Delta off Nigeria’s coast and holds at least eight previously undeveloped discoveries.
Renaissance, which now owns Shell’s former onshore and shallow-water assets, operates Nigeria’s largest upstream joint venture with 18 oil leases, two export terminals and a FPSO vessel in the oil-rich delta.
Commenting on Tuesday, Mr Tony Attah, the managing director/chief executive of Renaissance, said the discovery reflects the company’s renewed focus on exploration and its commitment to boosting Nigeria’s long-term oil production.
“The success of JK-004, just over one year after assuming operatorship of these assets, demonstrates the strength of our exploration programme,” he said.
He lauded the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), adding that the exploration performance reflected the collaboration with the company’s joint venture partners comprising the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), TotalEnergies Limited and Agip Energy and Natural Resources.
He added that the NNPC Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Bayo Ojulari, and the Executive Vice President, Upstream, Mr Udobong Ntia, provided the needed strategic guidance with commitment for value delivery across the joint venture assets.
On his part, the Vice President of Exploration and Chief Explorer at Renaissance, Mr Johnbosco Uche, said the exploration success was due to the company’s subsurface excellence, technical rigour, and disciplined approach to reserve replacement.
“The JK-004 well provides a strong foundation for accelerated maturation with clear pathways to early development and value realisation,” the Chief Explorer said, adding that the strategic location of JK-004 near an existing field would enable rapid commercialisation.
The chief executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, described the feat as a perfect alignment with the commission’s vision of growing the nation’s reserves “to future-proof sustainable national growth,” and pledged to continue building the enabling regulatory environment required to support the Nigerian oil and gas industry.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The mandatory takeover bid of about 1.63 per cent shares held by minority shareholders of Premier Paints Plc by Xenergi has been launched.
Business Post learned that the exercise will open at 8 am on Monday, July 13, 2026, and close on Friday, August 7, 2026, and it concerns shareholders of Premier Paint, excluding Xenergi Plc, whose names appear in the register of members of Premier Paint on the qualification date, which was Monday, July 6, 2026.
Xenergi is looking to acquire a total of 2 million shares of Premier Paints at N38 per unit, amounting to N76 million.
The reason for this offer is to enable Xenergi comply with Section 142(4) of the ISA Act 2025 and Rules 445 – 448 of the SEC New Rules and Amendment dated August 30, 2021, following its acquisition of a 49.60 per cent majority equity stake in Premier Paint.
On June 8, 2026, Xenergi Plc acquired 61,003,350 ordinary shares in Premier Paint, representing a 49.60 per cent equity stake.
Xenergi Plc and Premier Paint Plc executed a Share Sale and Purchase Agreement detailing the terms and conditions of the acquisition. The acquisition was concluded following receipt of the required regulatory approvals from the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
In accordance with Section 142(4) of the ISA Act 2025, Xenergi is required to make a takeover bid to all the other shareholders of Premier Paint.
Consequently, on May 25, 2026, the board of Xenergi granted approval for a Takeover to be made to all qualifying shareholders, for the acquisition of the offer shares.
