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Economy

Asian Shares Close Broadly Higher

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By Investors Hub

Asian stocks ended broadly higher on Thursday after the U.S. midterm elections delivered no big surprises.

While a split Congress is expected to halt any major advances in President Donald Trump’s economic agenda, Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate, overcoming historical political headwinds.

Traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve?s monetary policy announcement for new clues as to whether the U.S. central bank will signal a December rate hike.

Chinese stocks fell slightly even as data showed Chinese exports and imports both increased more than expected in October.

China’s exports grew 15.6 percent annually, while economists had forecast an increase of 11.7 percent. Imports surged up 21.4 percent compared to the forecast of 14.7 percent. As a result, the trade surplus came in at $34 billion in the month versus the expected level of $35.1 billion.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dipped 5.71 points or 0.2 percent to 2,635.63, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 80.03 points or 0.3 percent to 26,227.72.

Japanese shares posted strong gains to hit a 2-1/2-week closing high as investors cheered the U.S. midterm election results. The Nikkei 225 Index jumped 401.12 points or 1.8 percent to 22,486.92, and the broader Topix Index soared 1.7 percent to 1,681.25.

Exporters Canon, Honda Motor and Sony rose 1-3 percent. Banks Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial climbed around 2 percent. Toshiba skyrocketed 12.7 percent after it unveiled a new five-year business strategy and announced a share buyback.

In economic news, the value of core machine orders in Japan plunged 18.3 percent sequentially in September, the Cabinet Office said, coming in at 802.2 billion yen. That was well shy of expectations for a decline of 9.0 percent following the 6.8 percent increase in August.

Another report showed that Japan had a current account surplus of 1,821.6 billion yen in September, down 19.3 percent from last year. The trade balance showed a surplus of 323.3 billion yen, shy of expectations for 334.2 billion yen.

Australian markets eked out modest gains, led by healthcare, banking and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 31.30 points or 0.5 percent to 5,928.20, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended 0.6 percent higher at 6,015.90.

Healthcare stocks led the surge, with CSL, Cochlear and Resmed jumping 1-2 percent. Energy stocks posted modest gains despite oil prices falling to a nearly eight-month low.

News Corp. surged up 4.2 percent after its fiscal first quarter earnings topped forecasts. REA Group, the owner of real estate portal realestate.com and majority owned by News Corp., soared 8 percent after its first quarter profit rose 23 percent on a 17 percent increase in revenue.

Meanwhile, lender NAB lost 3.6 percent on going ex-dividend, while the other three big banks shot up around 2 percent each after the banking regulator proposed hiking capital requirements.

Mining giant BHP Billiton eased 0.2 percent after it secured exploration blocks in offshore eastern Canada. James Hardie shares slumped 14.7 percent after the building materials group cut its full year forecast range, citing uncertain conditions in its key U.S. market.

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

Economy

Wems BO Plans Personal Finance Retreat to Empower Nigerians

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Wems BO personal finance

By Adedapo Adesanya

Financial educator and coach, Mrs Wemimo “Wems BO” Bolu-Opaniran, is set to host the maiden edition of the Wems BO Personal Finance Retreat 1.0, a weekend event aimed at helping participants improve their financial literacy and develop practical money management skills.

According to a statement, the retreat is designed to make personal finance engaging and accessible through interactive sessions, games, networking opportunities, and one-on-one coaching sessions.

The organisers said the event will focus on providing attendees with practical and actionable financial knowledge rather than conventional lecture-style teaching.

“Come and unravel financial wisdom and leave with a practical and concrete action plan,” the organisers stated in a statement.

Activities lined up for the retreat include interactive finance sessions, networking opportunities, personal finance workbooks, games and activities, food and souvenirs, as well as three months of exclusive access to the event replay.

Speaking on the rationale for organising the event, Wems BO noted that lack is primarily not always the reason people have bad finances, but often, money culture is.

“The way one sees and treats money has been a development from years and decades past. So, what to do about money is not the solution. It is mindset, defaults and motivations shaping decisions.

The solution is an inner inquiring on why you do what you do, beyond money. Understanding who you are, then beginning to drive decisions that make you grow, manage and scale your finances in a way that aids the life you want,” she told Business Post.

Participants will also have the opportunity to receive one-on-one coaching with the finance guru.

The event is scheduled to be held from Friday, July 17 to Saturday, July 18, 2026, at an in-house venue on Lagos Mainland.

Ticket prices were pegged at N40,000 for individual attendees and N76,000 for duo tickets, with organisers noting that limited slots remain available.

Interested participants can register through the official registration link.

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Economy

Unlisted Securities Index Rises 0.91%

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Unlisted Securities Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

A 0.91 per cent growth was recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, May 22, after the share prices of four securities ended in green.

According to data, FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc went up by N15.61 to N179.67 per share from N164.06 per share, Newrest Asl Plc grew by N6.11 to N67.26 per unit from N61.15 per unit, Food Concepts Plc appreciated by 17 Kobo to N2.75 per share from N2.58 per share, and Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc added 6 Kobo to sell at N25.50 per unit compared with the previous day’s N25.44 per unit.

At the close of business, the market capitalisation chalked up N23.22 billion to settle at N2.561 trillion versus Thursday’s N2.538 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased by 38.81 points to 4,281.28 points from 4,242.47 points.

During the session, the price of Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was down by N3.13 to N71.07 per share from N74.20 per share.

The activity chart showed that the volume of securities transacted by the market participants decreased yesterday by 81.6 per cent to 590,339 units from the 3.2 million units recorded on Thursday, as the number of deals shrank by 28.6 per cent to 30 deals from the 42 deals recorded a day earlier, while the value of securities increased by 0.5 per cent to N95.3 million from the preceding session’s N94.8 million.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc closed the day as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 61.2 million units traded for N4.1 billion.

The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was GNI Plc, with the sale of 3.4 billion units for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units exchanged for N415.7 million.

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Economy

Stock Investors Gain N344bn amid Decline in Transactions

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stock investors' portfolios

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange witnessed a decline in transactions on Friday despite closing higher by 0.22 per cent on the back of sustained bargain-hunting.

During the last trading session of the week, investors transacted 711.9 million equities valued at N29.1 billion in 62,386 deals compared with the 1.1 billion equities worth N31.0 billion traded in 62,448 deals in the previous day, indicating a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 35.28 per cent, 6.13 per cent, and 0.10 per cent, respectively.

Fidelity Bank closed the day as the most active stock with the sale of 198.1 million units for N4.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 69.7 million units worth N1.8 billion, Mutual Benefits exchanged 42.7 million units valued at N197.4 million, Japaul transacted 33.9 million units worth N134.4 million, and Zenith Bank sold 24.4 million units valued at N3.2 billion.

Yesterday, the industrial goods index rose by 0.53 per cent, the consumer goods sector jumped 0.28 per cent, the banking industry improved by 0.25 per cent, and the energy counter soared by 0.18 per cent, while the insurance space shed 0.18 per cent.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 536.98 points to finish at 249,712.37 points compared with the previous day’s 249,175.39 points, and the market capitalisation grew by N344 billion to N160.077 trillion from N159.733 trillion.

Aluminium Extrusion and DAAR Communications expanded by 10.00 per cent each to sell for N9.90 and N2.09, respectively, RT Briscoe surged by 9.93 per cent to N14.06, Learn Africa increased by 9.79 per cent to N12.90, and Red Star Express advanced by 9.56 per cent to N34.95.

On the flip side, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.92 per cent to N5.72, Livestock Feeds dipped by 9.64 per cent to N8.90, The Initiates crashed by 8.65 per cent to N33.80, Ellah Lakes drowned by 8.64 per cent to N10.05, and Neimeth lost 6.36 per cent to trade at N10.30.

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