Economy
Asian Equities Crash Amid Fresh Liquidity Injections in China
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks fell sharply on Monday despite emergency rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and a fresh round of liquidity injections in China. Weak economic data from China added to investor worries about the impact of the coronavirus.
Chinese stocks fell after the release of dismal industrial data. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 98.17 points, or 3.4 percent, to 2,789.25, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slumped 969.34 points, or 4 percent, to 23,063.57.
China’s central bank added more funds into the banking system today but kept its borrowing cost unchanged after the U.S. Federal Reserve unexpectedly reduced interest rates by a steep 100 basis points.
The central bank last week had reduced the reserve requirement ratio by 50-100 basis points for qualifying banks to shore up the economy hit by the outbreak of covid-19.
In economic news, official data showed that Chinese industrial production and retail sales plunged more than expected at the start of the year amid a widespread shutdown of manufacturing operations.
Industrial production plunged 13.5 percent in the January to February period after rising 6.9 percent in December, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Economists had forecast a moderate 3 percent decrease.
Retail sales logged a sharp fall of 20.5 percent, reversing an 8 percent increase in December. Sales were forecast to drop only 4 percent.
Fixed asset investment was down 24.5 percent versus a 5.4 percent rise in January to December 2019. The jobless rate surged to 6.2 percent.
Home sales decreased 34.7 percent annually in the first two months of 2020, while property investment fell 16.3 percent after rising 9.9 percent in January to December 2019.
Japanese shares fluctuated before finishing lower despite the Bank of Japan announcing emergency monetary policy measures and core machinery orders data, an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, pointing to a rebound.
The total value of core machine orders in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 2.9 percent sequentially in January, the Cabinet Office said, coming in at 839.4 billion yen. That exceeded expectations for a decline of 1.0 percent following the upwardly revised 11.9 percent decline in December (originally -12.5 percent).
On a yearly basis, core machine orders eased 0.3 percent – again beating forecasts for a drop of 1.1 percent following the 3.5 percent decline in the previous month.
The Nikkei 225 Index tumbled 429.01 points, or 2.5 percent, to 17,002.04, while the broader Topix closed 2 percent lower at 1,236.34.
Australian markets extended their sell-off into a fourth week and plunged deep into bear market territory despite the Reserve Bank of Australia pumping extra liquidity into the banking system to ensure businesses and households have access to credit amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index plummeted 537.30 points, or 9.7 percent, to 5,002.00, marking the biggest loss since the Black Monday crash in 1987. The broader All Ordinaries Index ended down 532.50 points, or 9.5 percent, at 5,058.20.
Energy stocks succumbed to heavy selling pressure, with Woodside Petroleum, Santos, Oil Search and Beach Energy falling 14-20 percent. The big four banks gave up 10-12 percent.
Miners heavyweights BHP, Fortescue Metals Group and Rio Tinto dropped 3-6 percent, while gold miner Evolution Mining plunged 11.4 percent, Newcrest lost 13.2 percent and Regis Resources declined 13 percent.
Hearing implants maker Cochlear plummeted 19 percent after withdrawing its earnings outlook.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 56.58 points, or 3.2 percent, to 1,714.86 as the mainstay industries such as automobiles and steel faced a crisis for their first quarter performance.
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.
