Economy
Traders May Take Break Following Recent Gains
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a mixed opening on Friday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction following the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions.
Traders may take a breather following the upward trend seen in recent sessions, which lifted the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to their best closing levels in almost two months on Thursday.
Later in the day, traders are likely to keep an eye on Washington, as President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver a speech on his plan to lower drug prices.
Reports say Trump?s plan will include a series of reforms to Medicare but will stop short of allowing the government to negotiate directly with drug makers.
Following the strength seen on Wednesday, stocks saw some further upside during trading on Thursday. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in almost two months.
The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 196.99 points or 0.8 percent to 24,739.53, the Nasdaq jumped 65.07 points or 0.9 percent to 7,404.98 and the S&P 500 advanced 25.28 points or 0.9 percent to 2,723.07.
The strength on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing a slightly smaller than expected increase in consumer prices in the month of April.
The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in April after edging down by 0.1 percent in March. Economists had expected consumer prices to climb by 0.3 percent.
Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices inched up by 0.1 percent in April after rising by 0.2 percent in the previous month. Core prices had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent.
Michael Pearce, Senior U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said the smaller than expected increase in core prices suggests that the recent surge in underlying inflation is fading.
“Even so, core inflation on the Fed’s preferred PCE measure has still accelerated faster than Fed officials anticipated just a few months ago, which will keep the Fed on track to raise interest rates again in June,” Pearce said.
A separate report from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims unexpectedly came in unchanged in the week ended May 5th.
The report said initial jobless claims came in at 211,000, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised level. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 218,000.
In geopolitical news, President Donald Trump announced his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be held in Singapore on June 12th.
Telecom stocks showed a significant move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Telecom Index up by 2 percent. With the jump, the index reached its best closing level in over two months.
Within the telecom sector, Qualcomm (QCOM) posted a strong gain after announcing a new $10 billion stock repurchase.
Considerable strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.
Semiconductor, utilities, and healthcare stocks also saw notable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
By Bon Peter
The Area 11 Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Onne, Rivers State surpassed its 2024 annual revenue target by N16 billion.
This information was revealed to newsmen by the Customs Area Controller of the Command, Mr Mohammed Babandede, at a news conference last week.
He also disclosed that the command recently intercepted 12 containers of illicit drugs worth over N20.30 billion concealed in various items.
According to him, the content of the seized container included 1,721,100 bottles of 100ml cough syrup codeine, 510,000 tablets of 50mg Really Extra Diclofenac, 7,100,000 tablets of 225mg Royal apple Tramadol and Tramaking, 3,461 pieces of sanitary ware fittings used for concealment, 840 pieces of Chilly cutter used for concealment, and 153 cartons of TVS rubber.
“Our vigilant officers and men have successfully intercepted and seized an additional 12 containers (40 feet) of illicit medicine.
“This is a testament to our unwavering commitment to safeguarding public health, ensuring security of our nation and compliance with Nigeria’s import regulations. This also justifies our commitment to trade facilitation, transparency, effective and efficient service,” he said.
He said last year, the command received the support of different stakeholders, thanking them for working with the agency to achieve success.
“We appreciate the continued support and collaboration of all stakeholders, including the media, in amplifying our message and efforts to combat smuggling,” he said.
Mr Babandede stated that, “It is worth noting that the morale and dedication of our officers have been significantly bolstered by the Comptroller-General of Customs’ award, recognizing Area 2 Command as the Best Command in Anti-Smuggling Operations.
“This honour has further strengthened our resolve, and I assure you that we will not relent in performing our duties to protect the lives and well-being of Nigerians.”
The customs chief said earlier last year, the command was given a revenue target of N618 billion but as of December 31, 2024, it generated N634 billion, higher than the N321 billion recorded in 2023, promising to do more in 2025.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited appreciated by 0.39 per cent on Friday as the demand for local equities continued to increase.
During the final trading session of the week, the insurance maintained its upward trend with a growth of 7.81 per cent as the banking index appreciated by 1.08 per cent, the consumer goods sector rose by 0.52 per cent, and the industrial goods counter expanded by 0.33 per cent, while the energy space went down by 0.49 per cent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) jumped by 406.19 points to 103,586.33 points from 103,180.14 points, and the market capitalisation increased by N248 billion to N63.166 trillion from N62.918 trillion.
The bourse recorded 67 appreciating shares and 11 depreciating shares, implying a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Chams, Omatek, NCR Nigeria, Learn Africa, and Regency Alliance topped the gainers’ table after they gained 10.00 per cent each to finish at N2.31, 88 Kobo, N6.05, N4.95, and 88 Kobo, respectively.
On the flip side, TotalEnergies lost 9.74 per cent to trade at N630.00, CWG depreciated by 6.04 per cent to close at N7.00, Thomas Wyatt went down by 5.26 per cent to N1.80, ABC Transport crumbled by 4.07 per cent to N1.18, and UAC Nigeria shed 3.19 per cent to N31.90.
Yesterday, investors traded 709.3 million stocks valued at N8.2 billion in 13,593 deals compared with the 829.8 million stocks worth N5.7 billion transacted in 11,752 deals on Thursday, representing a slowdown in the trading volume by 14.52 per cent and a rise in the trading value and number of deals by 43.86 per cent and 15.67 per cent, respectively.
At the close of business, Chams topped the activity log with 58.1 million equities sold for N133.8 million, Veritas Kapital traded 55.1 million shares valued at N89.2 million, Abbey Mortgage Bank exchanged 50.1 million stocks for N165.5 million, AIICO Insurance transacted 39.7 million equities worth N68.3 million, and NPF Microfinance Bank sold 34.3 million stocks valued at N64.0 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its positive start to the year with a 0.08 per cent rise on Friday, January 3.
The market saw a gain of N840 million, with the value of the alternative bourse growing to N1.046 trillion from the N1.045 trillion it closed a day earlier as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) made an addition of 2.43 points to wrap the session at 3,052.34 points compared with 3,049.91 points recorded at the previous session.
The appreciation posted yesterday at the NASD OTC exchange was caused by two price gainers led by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc which jumped by 2 Kobo to end at 20 Kobo per share compared with the preceding session’s 18 Kobo per share and UBN Property Plc, which improved its value by 16 Kobo to close at N1.98 per unit, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price f N1.82 per unit.
The market posted a price loser, which was FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc as it dropped 18 Kobo to finish at N39.76 share versus the previous day’s N39.94 per share.
There was an 856.6 per cent surge in the volume of securities traded in the session to 11.3 million units from the 1.2 million units traded in the preceding session.
Equally, there was a jump in the value of shares traded yesterday by 1,078.4 per cent to N56.8 million from the N4.8 million made previously, and the number of deals increased by 22.7 per cent to 27 deals from 22 deals.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc was the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.4 units worth N55.8 million, IGI Plc came next with 10.6 million units valued at N2.1 million, and 11 Plc was in third with 6,45 units sold for N1.4 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc came next with 1.4 million units valued at N55.8 million, and UBN Property Plc followed with 275,740 units worth N545,965.
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