Economy
Oil Gains as President Joe Biden Assumes Office
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose at the international market on Wednesday as Mr Joe Biden was sworn-in as the 46th President of the United States of America.
The Brent crude went up by 1.16 per cent or 67 cents to trade at $56.52 per barrel while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose by 30 cents or 0.57 per cent to close at $53.28 per barrels.
The incoming Biden administration has made plans to introduce a better incentive in the next COVID-19 relief package. This was confirmed by the Treasury Secretary nominee, Ms Janet Yellen, when she told the country’s Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday that the administration intended to act big in the upcoming stimulus package.
Mr Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion spending package, which faces a tough battle in a 50-50 Senate where Democrats will have control by virtue of Vice President Kamala Harris’s tiebreaker vote.
The majority of the day’s gain for oil can be attributed to the expectation of stimulus money.
The market, however, faces a tougher challenge as the continued lockdowns in many parts of Europe and the returns of restrictions in some parts of China is adding to fresh worries, which could further dampen the market’s mood.
This is not helped by the more worrying projection that the oil market is likely to remain in a supply deficit over the first quarter and the rest of the year due to a surge in demand in the second half of 2020 as economies began to recover from the coronavirus pandemic along with compliance with OPEC+ production curbs.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its closely-watched Oil Market Report on Tuesday that much more oil is likely to be required, given its forecast for a substantial improvement in demand in the second half of the year.
But the combination of Saudi production cuts and the outlook for more fiscal stimulus, and increased mobility as time goes on is expected to eventually support demand.
Weekly data on US petroleum supplies will be released a day later than usual because of Monday’s Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. The American Petroleum Institute (API) will release its report first, with official figures from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to follow later on Thursday.
By Adedapo Adesanya
NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained in the negative territory after it further depreciated by 0.64 per cent on Friday, July 24, despite recording four price gainers.
The NASD Security Index (NSI) dropped 27.4 points at the close of business to settle at 4,294.75 points versus the previous day’s 4,383.48 points, while the market capitalisation gave up N16.49 billion to end at N2.577 trillion, in contrast to the N2.594 trillion it ended a day earlier.
The bourse was down during the session amid heavy sell-offs, with the volume of transactions skyrocketing by 693.9 per cent to 2.99 million units from Thursday’s 377,635 units.
Equally, the value of trades went up by 71.6 per cent to N69.4 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals increased by 41.0 per cent to 55 deals from the preceding day’s 39 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.6 million units traded for N5.4 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
The market ended the session with four price gainers and two price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which lost N7.44 to trade at N136.19 per share compared with the previous day’s N143.63 per share, and CSCS Plc, which declined by N1.64 to N93.63 per unit from N95.27 per unit.
But MRS Oil gained N13.50 to sell at N148.50 per share versus N135.00 per share, Afriland Properties Plc advanced by 56 Kobo to N17.41 per unit from N16.85 per unit, UBN Property Plc surged by 18 Kobo to N1.93 per share from N1.75 per share, and Food Concepts Plc climbed by 1 Kobo to N2.50 per unit from N2.49 per unit.
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s stock exchange succumbed to profit-taking on Friday, losing 0.19 per cent when the closing gong was hit at 4 pm.
Shares in the banking and energy sectors influenced the decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, as they respectively closed lower by 0.40 per cent and 0.04 per cent.
The industrial goods index was flat yesterday, while the insurance counter gained 0.68 per cent and the consumer goods space chalked up 0.25 per cent. The gains by these two segments could not keep Customs Street in the green territory at the close of business.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 474.00 points to 247,357.40 points from 247,831.40 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N306 billion to N159.588 trillion from N159.894 trillion.
Presco dropped 10.00 per cent during the trading day to close at N2,070.00, Thomas Wyatt crumbled by 9.93 per cent to N3.63, Trans-Nationwide Express plunged by 8.44 per cent to N2.82, Royal Exchange slipped by 7.86 per cent to N1.29, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shrank by 7.32 per cent to N3.80.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing improved by 9.48 per cent to N6.35, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, RT Briscoe jumped by 8.61 per cent to N13.25, Honeywell Flour expanded by 7.38 per cent to N17.45, and Africa Prudential increased by 6.98 per cent to N13.80.
Despite the poor performance, the local bourse recorded a positive market breadth index after finishing with 35 price gainers and 25 price losers, representing strong investor sentiment.
It was a relatively quiet market on Friday, as the activity level dropped, with the trading volume down by 27.72 per cent to 565.5 million units from 782.4 million units, and the trading value contracted by 46.89 per cent to N29.9 billion from N56.3 billion, while the number of deals executed by investors soared by 16.03 per cent to 53,688 deals from 46,273 deals.
Access Holdings was the busiest stock for the session, with a turnover of 128.0 million units sold for N3.8 billion, First Holdco transacted 35.4 million units worth N4.3 billion, Chams exchanged 34.8 million units valued at N154.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million units for N3.9 billion, and UBA sold 30.4 million units worth N1.5 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marked a whole week of appreciation against the United States Dollar on Friday, July 24, further gaining N5.67 or 0.41 per cent to close at N1,362.09/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with N1,367.76/$1 it ended on Thursday.
Equally, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N10.83 to trade at N1,813.62/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,824.45/£1, and improved against the Euro by N7.68 to settle at N1,549.10/€1, in contrast to the N1,556.78/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
However, at the parallel market and GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the greenback during the session at N1,400/$1 and N1,379/$1, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buffer has been strengthened with sustained foreign portfolio inflows and robust foreign reserves, which stand above $52 billion.
The apex bank’s policy signals that the Naira will be stronger in the near term, with Nigeria clearing hurdles with FX reforms and settlement of all backlogs.
However, some traders expect that pressure may come due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers as they make Dollar purchases to build inventories.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), in the digital currency landscape, trimmed recent gains as it fell by 2.3 per cent to $63,787.73.
The weak action in the AI momentum trade is feeding through to crypto as well.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1615, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.8 per cent to $73.71, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.3 per cent to $1.08, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.9 per cent to $1,851.58, Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated by 0.8 per cent to $0.0694, Binance Coin (BNB) contracted by 0.7 per cent to $564.18, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.5 per cent to trade at $0.3292, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
