Economy
Brent Slides 1% After Hitting $80 Per Barrel
By Adedapo Adesanya
Brent oil dipped on Tuesday after topping $80 per barrel for the first time since 2018 as investors took profits to truncate the recent rally for crude oil.
Yesterday, the crude oil grade traded at $78.18 per barrel, indicating a decline of 1.7 per cent or $1.35, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) grade depreciated by 0.21 per cent or 16 cents to trade at $75.29 per barrel.
Prices rose early at the session with Brent topping $80 a barrel for the first time in three years as the natural gas shortage and price spikes spill over into the crude oil futures market.
Energy commodities have rallied in recent days after the natural gas shortage in Europe went global and this led to a surge in gas, coal, and crude oil prices. The record-high natural gas and power prices in Europe are leading to additional demand for coal and oil in the power generation sector.
Investors quickly took their chances and banked on a level that forecasters have projected in the past few weeks that the commodity will reach.
Despite these, the bullish environment remains for crude as demand has since recovered amid the widescale rollout of the coronavirus vaccine just as the rally in natural gas prices is prompting people to switch from gas to oil.
In addition, global oil demand is expected to continue to grow into the mid-2030s to 108 million barrels per day, after which it is set to plateau until 2045, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its 2021 World Oil Outlook (WOO) on Tuesday.
OPEC’s timeline for peak oil demand in its 2021 outlook is a few years earlier than in last year’s WOO report, which had forecast that global oil demand would grow steadily until the late 2030s when it would begin to level. After the COVID pandemic last year, OPEC for the first time put a timeline to peak oil demand.
In this year’s outlook, OPEC sees oil demand growing strongly in the short- and medium-term before demand plateaus in the long term.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a surprise build in crude oil inventories of 4.127 million barrels for the week ending September 24.
The build runs contrary to the analyst expectations who had estimated a loss of 2.333 million barrels for the week.
In the previous week, the API reported a draw in oil inventories of 6.108 million barrels—a larger loss than the 2.400 million barrel draw that analysts had predicted.
The market will wait to confirm how true this is when the US government regulated Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases its official data on Wednesday.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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