Economy
Qualinvest Capital Emerges Most Active Stockbroker in June, Q2 2019
By Dipo Olowookere
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Wema Bank Plc, Qualinvest Capital Limited, has topped the best performing stockbroking companies in the month of June 2019 and second quarter of 2019, Business Post is reporting.
Last month, the company transacted the highest volume of shares in the country, contributing 48.62 percent to the 81.37 percent the top 10 firms added to the total volume of equities traded on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The company traded 10.6 billion shares in the period under review.
Taking the second position was Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Ltd, which traded 2.1 billion units or 9.55 percent, while the third was EFG Hermes Nigeria Ltd, which sold 1.4 billion equities or 6.34 percent.
Occupying the fourth spot was APT Securities and Funds, which exchanged 1 billion shares or 4.67 percent, while the fifth was Rencap Securities Nigeria Ltd, transacting 693.4 million shares or 3.19 percent.
CSL Stockbrokers Ltd traded 640.6 million or 2.94 percent, Chapel Hill Denham Securities Ltd exchanged 394.6 million units or 1.81 percent, Quantum Zenith Securities and Investment Ltd transacted 341.7 million or 1.57 percent, Cardinalstone Securities Ltd sold 299.9 million shares or 1.38 percent, while Tellimer Capital Ltd traded 284.1 million equities or 1.31 percent.
In all, these 10 brokerage firms transacted a total of 17.7 billion shares in the month of June 2019.
On the value side, it was Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers that claimed the top spot, recording transactions worth N87.6 billion or 29.67 percent of the trades last month.
APT Securities and Funds followed with N64 billion transactions or 21.69 percent, EFG Hermes recorded N30.1 billion trades or 10.18 percent, Rencap exchanged stocks valued at N24 billion or 8.14 percent, while CSL Stockbrokers sold equities worth N12.1 billion or 4.10 percent.
Tellimer Capital traded equities worth N6.9 billion or 2.32 percent, Chapel Hill Denham Securities sold shares valued at N6.8 billion or 2.29 percent, Qualinvest Capital exchanged stocks worth N6.7 billion or 2.28 percent, Quantum Zenith Securities and Investment sold shares valued at N6.6 billion or 2.22 percent, with Cordros Securities Ltd transacting N4.2 billion equities or 1.43 percent.
Business Post reports that from June 1 to 28, 2019, shares valued at N249 billion were transacted by these 10 companies and they contributed 84.33 percent of the total trades on the NSE.
In the second quarter of this year, Qualinvest Capital topped the best performing stockbrokers’ table, with 10.7 billion shares traded by the firm, contributing 20.85 percent to the total volume of trades.
Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers sold 4.6 billion shares or 9.06 percent, Greenwich Trust executed 3.2 billion equities or 6.28 percent, Cardinalstone Securities exchanged 2.7 billion stocks or 5.24 percent, while EFG Hermes transacted 2.3 billion equities or 4.59 percent.
Rencap Securities transacted 2.2 billion shares or 4.34 percent of the total volume in Q2 2019, CSL Stockbrokers traded 1.9 billion shares or 3.76 percent, Morgan Capital Securities sold 1.8 billion equities or 3.61 percent, APT Securities traded 1.4 billion stocks or 2.79 percent, while Chapel Hill Denham transacted 1.3 billion or 2.66 percent.
In the period under consideration, the above companies traded a total of 32.3 billion shares, contributing 63.18 percent of the total volume of shares sold at the NSE.
In value terms, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers claimed the number one spot, trading stocks worth N148.2 billion or 22.39 percent of the total value of shares sold on the NSE from April 1, 2019 to June 28, 2019.
APT Securities and Funds occupied the second spot with N68.7 billion or 10.38 percent, while Rencap Securities claimed the third position for the N64.9 billion shares or 9.81 percent it recorded.
Coronation Securities sold N51.6 billion equities or 7.80 percent, EFG Hermes traded N43.7 billion stocks or 6.60 percent, CSL Stockbrokers transacted N37.6 billion shares or 5.68 percent, Chapel Hill Denham exchanged N25 billion shares or 3.77 percent, Tellimer Capital sold N19.2 billion equities or 2.90 percent, Cardinalstone Securities traded N18.8 billion shares or 2.84 percent, while FBN Quest Securities transacted N17.4 billion equities or 2.63 percent.
In all, the total value of stocks transacted by investors through these stockbrokers was N495 billion, contributing 74.80 percent of the total value of trades in Q2 2019.
By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session of the week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended in the green territory on Monday, with a 1.20 per cent rise.
This was buoyed by the gains recorded by Airtel Africa and other equities, according to analysis of data harvested from the Customs Street yesterday.
During the trading day, the consumer goods index grew by 0.76 per cent, enough to offset the losses recorded by the other sectors.
The insurance counter shrank by 1.64 per cent, the banking space lost 0.24 per cent, the energy sector contracted by 0.09 per cent, and the industrial goods segment retreated by 0.05 per cent.
When trading activities ended for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 2,956.15 points to 248,529.75 points from 245,573.60 points, and the market capitalisation gained N1.909 trillion to finish at N160.422 trillion compared with the previous session’s N158.513 trillion.
Fortis Global Insurance expanded by 10.00 per cent to N2.86, Chams surged by 9.80 per cent to N4.48, NAHCO jumped by 9.29 per cent to N153.00, Airtel Africa soared by 8.59 per cent to N6,300.00, and Sovereign Trust Insurance rose by 6.59 per cent to N1.78.
Conversely, AVA Capital shed 10.00 per cent to N9.90, Ecobank decreased by 9.92 per cent to N64.95, Caverton crashed by 9.09 per cent to N5.00, Ikeja Hotel slipped by 8.41 per cent to N43.00, and FTN Cocoa dropped 8.37 per cent to trade at N8.10.
A total of 23 equities were on the gainers’ chart yesterday, while 37 equities ended on the losers’ table, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
As for the activity log, the trading volume remained elevated, though lower than the preceding session, as it receded by 26.67 per cent to 1.1 billion units from 1.5 billion units. The trading value, however, increased by 1.12 per cent to N27.0 billion from N26.7 billion, while the number of deals advanced by 39.00 per cent to 59,185 deals from 42,580 deals.
Consolidated Hallmark was the most active stock yesterday, with a turnover of 354.1 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Fortis Global Insurance traded 307.3 million units worth N818.3 million, Access Holdings exchanged 48.1 million units for N1.4 billion, Chams transacted 37.4 million units worth N163.3 million, and First Holdco sold 35.8 million units valued at N5.1 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices traded 5 per cent higher on Monday after Iran and the United States argued about demands for compensation, further stalling a possible deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures chalked up $4.17 or 4.99 per cent to sell at $87.72 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures surged $3.95 or 5.05 per cent to $82.13 per barrel.
Iran said the US must lift sanctions on it and meet other conditions for reopening the vital waterway, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the start of the Middle East conflict in late February.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said Iran must pay compensation for “all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded.”
This comes as the Middle East country said it was nearing a final pact with Oman to define new shipping lanes through the strait but repeated that the US must meet other conditions, including compensation and an end to sanctions and military threats before the strategic waterway is reopened.
In a further threat to supply, the Iran-aligned Houthis said they had struck Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery on Sunday. Saudi Aramco has postponed the restart of the 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery to August 30 after two Houthi attacks in recent weeks.
ADNOC, a state-owned oil company in the United Arab Emirates, said on Friday that 15 of its vessels had been attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the conflict.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military continued to attack Russia’s energy infrastructure, hitting the Taneco oil refinery in Tatarstan and the ZapSibNeftekhim petrochemical plant in Russia’s Tyumen region.
On the US supply side, stocks of crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) fell by about 6.1 million barrels to 298.7 million barrels last week, the lowest level since January 1983.
Bank of America (BoFA) warned that oil prices could continue climbing into the winter if the US and Iran fail to reach an agreement reopening the Strait of Hormuz, with severe shortages already emerging in diesel, petrol, and global natural gas markets.
Mr Francisco Blanch, Bank of America’s head of commodities and derivatives research, told CNBC on Monday that only around 5 to 10 ships per day are currently passing through Hormuz, compared with roughly 140 before the war. With some crude now being rerouted through Saudi Arabia and the UAE, traffic would need to recover to around 80 to 100 ships per day just to stabilise energy markets.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions has called for stronger collaboration among financial sector regulators and other stakeholders to strengthen Nigeria’s financial system and support sustainable economic growth.
The committee made the call during an expanded stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos, attended by the leadership of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), among other industry stakeholders and financial experts.
Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru (Lagos East), who was represented by Mr Osita Izunaso (Imo West), said stronger legislative reforms and regulatory collaboration were necessary to reposition Nigeria’s financial architecture for long-term economic prosperity.
Mr Abiru said the financial sector remained critical to investment, job creation, business expansion and macroeconomic stability, stressing that its ability to mobilise savings, channel credit to productive sectors, facilitate investment and manage risks was fundamental to sustainable economic growth.
He said the current economic realities required closer collaboration between the legislature and financial regulators, noting that challenges confronting the sector were interconnected and could not be effectively addressed through isolated interventions.
The lawmaker identified inflationary pressures, global economic uncertainties, cybersecurity threats, low insurance penetration and the need to diversify Nigeria’s export base as some of the challenges requiring coordinated policy responses.
He said the engagement was aimed at generating practical solutions to strengthen the country’s financial architecture and support sustainable economic growth.
According to him, monetary policy, financial safety nets, banking institutions, the insurance industry and export finance were interdependent components of a stable financial system and must therefore be strengthened collectively.
The Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, said the Nigeria Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025 had contributed significantly to stabilising and repositioning the insurance sector.
Mr Omosehin disclosed that 43 insurance companies had successfully recapitalised, describing the development as a major milestone for the industry.
He commended Abiru and members of the committee for their role in advancing insurance sector reforms and urged the House of Representatives to expedite action on the relevant insurance reform bill to enable it to receive presidential assent and become operational.
Representatives of the CBN Governor and the Managing Directors of AMCON, NEXIM and NDIC also commended the Senate committee for its oversight and legislative support, saying its interventions had strengthened the agencies’ capacity to discharge their statutory mandates.
The engagement, held under the theme, Strengthening Financial System Architecture for Sustainable Economic Growth and Stability in Nigeria, also featured presentations by Professor Uche Uwaleke, President of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria (CMAN); Professor Biodun Adedipe, Chief Consultant, B. Adedipe Associates Limited; and Dr Tilewa Adebajo, Chief Executive Officer of CFG Advisory.
The experts presented policy recommendations on key issues affecting Nigeria’s financial system, with emphasis on financial stability, investment and sustainable economic growth.
Mr Abiru said the Senate would continue to engage financial regulators and other stakeholders to deepen financial inclusion, strengthen public confidence in financial institutions and improve regulatory effectiveness.
He said the broader objective was to position Nigeria’s financial system to compete more effectively in the global economy while remaining resilient and responsive to the country’s economic transformation agenda.
