Economy

Oil Sustains Steady Gains as Demand Rises

Published

6 years ago

27/05/2020

By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil futures finished higher Tuesday with continued cuts in crude production and growth in demand as lockdowns ease around the world continue to help the market.

With these, supply and demand are both finding a balance, propping up prices, with recent estimates citing a dop of 13-15 million barrels per day in terms of global production.

The international crude, Brent Crude, closed up 53 cents or 1.49 percent at $36.16 per barrel, while US oil, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up by 87 cents or 2.13 percent at $34.73 per barrel.

Both futures have risen for the past four weeks as news of gradual drop in oversupply have been witnessed as more people begin to move around after more than a month long restrictions on movement.

Also, compliance from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its oil-producing allies to take off 9.7 million barrels per day of the output is still a factor that is helping the market.

Also helping prices was remarks made by a chief party to the OPEC+ deal. Russia’s energy minister, Mr Alexander Novak said the global oil market was on track to balance by June or July.

The prices and demand of the commodity had been hit by the coronavirus pandemic in previous months, but Mr Novak noted that a rise in fuel demand should help to cut a global surplus of about 7 million to 12 million barrels per day by June or July.

OPEC+ countries are due to meet again in early June to discuss maintaining their supply cuts to shore up prices, which are still down about 45 percent since the start of the year.

Analysts believe that the 16 million barrels per day oversupply in crude during April could be reversed altogether by June, helped by a 4 million barrels per day recovery in crude demand and a 12 million barrels cut in crude supply.

With efforts by OPEC+ pulling off nearly 9 million barrels per day while non-OPEC+ crude supply is down by more than 3.5 million barrels per day from March levels.

Looking ahead, US data will be particularly important to watch this week as last week’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) report on petroleum supplies showed a slow down in rising demand, but there are signs that it should return to growth in Thursday’s report.

The EIA will release its weekly report on Thursday, a day later than usual because of Monday’s holiday.

Economy

CSCS Revives OTC Securities Exchange by 1.04%

Published

1 hour ago

12/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange broke a three-day losing streak after it gained 1.04 per cent on Thursday, June 11, on the back of a strong showing by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc.

The Nigerian securities depository company recorded a N5.61 growth during the session to finish at N83.93 per share compared with the previous day’s N78.32 per share.

The rise in the share price of the company overpowered the losses printed by three other securities at the close of business.

Consequently, the market capitalisation of the trading platform went up by N26.68 billion to N2.617 trillion from N2.590 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed higher by 44.89 points to 4,375.01 points from 4,330.12 points.

Yesterday, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc declined by N2.38 to N21.48 per unit from N23.80 per unit, UBN Property Plc went down by 13 Kobo to N1.98 per share from N2.11 per share, and MRS Oil Plc dropped 10 Kobo to close at N158.00 per unit, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing price of N158.10 per unit.

The volume of securities transacted by investors during the session significantly went up by 2,558.6 per cent to 3.1 million units from 117,374 units, and the value of securities traded improved by 463.1 per cent to N68.5 million from the preceding session’s N12.2 million, while the number of deals moderated by 37.2 per cent to 27 deals from 43 deals.

At the close of business, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 65.9 million units sold for N4.5 billion.

GNI Plc remained the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged 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 worth N415.7 million.

Economy

Sell-offs Compress Nigerian Exchange Key Performance Indices by 0.05%

Published

1 hour ago

12/06/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The key performance indices of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited moderated by 0.05 per cent on Thursday as a result of selling pressure by investors.

The sell-offs were mainly from the consumer goods and banking sectors, which contracted by 0.23 per cent and 0.17 per cent, respectively.

It was observed that the insurance counter closed higher by 0.73 per cent, the energy index appreciated by 0.10 per cent, and the industrial goods space was up by 0.09 per cent.

However, they could not prevent the bourse from crumbling at the close of business.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 113.47 points to 244,738.74 points from 244,852.21 points, and the market capitalisation slipped by N73 billion to N156.970 trillion from N157.043 trillion.

International Energy Insurance crashed by 10.00 per cent to N7.11, May and Baker stumbled by 8.51 per cent to N43.00, Tripple Gee contracted by 8.47 per cent to N4.00, Abbey Mortgage Bank slumped by 7.69 per cent to N11.40, and AXA Mansard dipped by 6.67 per cent to N12.60.

Conversely, Consolidated Hallmark improved by 10.00 per cent to N8.25, Learn Africa surged by 10.00 per cent to N11.00, Nigerian Enamelware was elevated by 10.00 per cent to N40.70, University Press chalked up 10.00 per cent to finish at N5.50, and ABC Transport gained 8.25 per cent to end at N7.80.

A total of 31 stocks were on the gainers’ chart, and 33 stocks were on the losers’ table, indicating a negative market breadth index and bearish investor sentiment.

On the activity chart, market participants bought and sold 1.7 billion equities valued at N52.8 billion in 49,807 deals, in contrast to the 1.2 billion equities worth N38.8 billion traded in 54,193 deals at midweek. This showed that the trading volume was up by 41.67 per cent, the trading value was up by 36.08 per cent, and the number of deals was down by 8/09 per cent.

The most active stock yesterday was FCMB with a turnover of 584.7 million units worth N5.9 billion, Access Holdings sold 579.8 million units for N14.0 billion, UBA exchanged 107.0 million units valued at N4.6 billion, NGX Group transacted 49.1 million units worth N6.7 billion, and AIICO Insurance traded 30.1 million units for N134.2 million.

Economy

Naira Value Further Tumbles to N1,363/$1 at NAFEX

Published

2 hours ago

12/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira further tumbled against the United States Dollar by N1.78 or 0.13 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) to N1,363.83/$1 on Thursday, June 11, from N1,362.05/$1 on Wednesday.

However, it gained N6.08 on the Pound Sterling in the official market to trade at N1,821.25/£1 versus midweek’s rate of N1,827.33/£1, and appreciated against the Euro by N2.46 to sell at N1,572.89/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,575.35/€1.

At the GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian Naira lost N1 against the Dollar during the session to quote at N1,371/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s value of N1,370/$1, and at the parallel market, it remained unchanged at N1,380/$1.

The Nigerian currency is expected to be steady, underpinned by Dollar sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), especially with gross external reserves rising to $50.439 billion, reflecting sustained inflows from oil revenue and other FX sources.

Traders expect the local currency ⁠to remain stable as the central bank continues to sell dollars and keep up its aggressive OMO (Open Market Operations) programme to mop up Naira

Confidence in the Naira remains firm with recent nods from S&P, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that it was bullish on Thursday, as President Donald Trump said the US was close to a deal with Iran and that he had “ended the war with Iran today.” Markets read it as the end of a conflict that has whipsawed prices for more than 100 days.

Market analysts noted that a calmer Middle East takes pressure off oil, which eases the inflation that has fed bets on higher interest rates – the same rate fear that helped drag crypto down this week.

Cardano (ADA) rose 2.5 per cent to $0.1683, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $66.05, Ripple (XRP) grew by 1.3 per cent to $1.12, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $0.0853, Bitcoin (BTC) jumped 0.4 per cent to $62,909.08, Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 0.3 per cent to $596.41, Ethereum (ETH) increased by 0.2 per cent to $1,655.02, US Dollar Tether (USDT) advanced by 0.11 per cent to $1.00, and US Dollar Coin (USDC) improved by 0.03 per cent to $1.00, while TRON (TRX) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $0.3126.