Asian Markets Close Mixed as Oil Resumes Ascent

By Dipo Olowookere The bears tightened their grip on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday, chopping off 0.34 per cent from the local bourse despite assurances from Mr Yemi Cardoso he would endeavour to ensure the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) restores its independence. Mr Cardoso was confirmed as the new CBN Governor by the Senate yesterday and he promised to formulate evidence-based monetary policies, a departure from his predecessor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who was accused of romancing the President and coming up with trial-and-error policies. Business Post reports that investors were more interested in trimming their exposure to

By Adedapo Adesanya Ultrasonic sensing technology company, Fluenta, has completed work on the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil refinery, installing 18 ultrasonic flare gas meters on large pipelines around the plant. This company is using its technology to aid Nigeria’s flare gas reduction efforts and with Dangote Refinery set to begin operations soon, according to its management recently, this could be a step to fix inaccurate measurements of gas flaring. Nigeria currently imports refined petroleum products for its use, even though it is Africa’s biggest oil producer and with Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery capable of

By Adedapo Adesanya A foreign oil company, Equinor ASA, has chosen a little-known Nigerian company, Chappal Energy, as the preferred buyer of its stake in one of the country’s largest deep-water oil fields, Agbami. According to a report by Bloomberg on Monday, the Norwegian energy giant is trying to sell its 20.2 per cent interest in the Agbami field – joining other international producers such as Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation and Eni SpA in looking to offload assets in Africa’s biggest crude producer, Nigeria. In January, Equinor launched the sale of its stake in an offshore Nigerian oilfield, joining

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The National Long and Short-Term Ratings of Stanbic IBTC Holding Company Plc and its main operating subsidiary, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc have been affirmed at ‘AAA(nga)’ and ‘F1+(nga)’ respectively by Fitch Ratings. It was disclosed that Stanbic IBTC’s National Ratings were based on potential support from its parent, South Africa’s Standard Bank Group Limited (SBG/Group; BB+/Stable) if required. “Our view of institutional support considers Stanbic IBTC’s strategic importance to SBG, high levels of integration between the parent and the subsidiary, as well as SBG’s majority shareholding in SIBTCH (53.07% through Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited),” Fitch said. Stanbic

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stepped up its regulatory oversight to ensure that promoters of Ponzi schemes in Nigeria face the full wrath of the law and their entities quickly sealed off. Acting Director General of the commission, Ms Mary Uduk, disclosed in an interview in Abuja at the weekend that her agency will also continue to work to protect investors in the nation’s capital market. She said Ponzi scheme is prohibited by the provisions of Section 38(1) of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007, stressing that the commission frowns at people not registered by SEC collecting

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Fitch Ratings, a global leader in credit ratings and research has affirmed the Long-term National Rating of Wema Bank at BBB-. This is reflective of the Bank’s stable outlook and continued viability, in spite of the challenging macro-economic environment. In Fitch’s opinion, the banking industry will remain challenging considering low oil prices, continued disruptions in oil production and constraints regarding the Forex liquidity. As such, the industry could witness a rise in non-performing loan (NPL) ratios, though Fitch expects banks to remain profitable in 2016. The rating agency affirmed Wema Bank’s Viability Rating (VR), showing a Stable

By Adedapo Adesanya The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has voted to increase the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points, bringing it to 18.00 per cent from 17.50 per cent. This was disclosed by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday while reading the communiqué of the 290th MPC meeting. Mr Emefiele said the committee voted to keep the asymmetric corridor at +100 and -500 basis points around the MPR. He also disclosed that the MPC voted to keep the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 32.5 per cent, as well as the

By Adedapo Adesanya Barely 12 hours after reporting 14 new cases of people testing positive for the COVID-19, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on Wednesday night confirmed 23 additional cases of coronavirus, driving the total number to 174. “Twenty-three new cases of #COVID19 have been reported in Nigeria; 9 in Lagos, 7 in the FCT, 5 in Akwa Ibom, 1 in Kaduna and 1 in Bauchi State,” NCDC said on Twitter on Wednesday night. “As at 08:00 pm 1st April, there are 174 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria. Nine have been discharged with two deaths,” the body

By Adedapo Adesanya The prices of oil closed bullish on Friday on the back of expectations that global supply would become tighter despite the decision of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) to increase output next month. It was observed that Brent rose by $1.80 or 1.5 per barrel to $119.41 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also advanced by $1.80 or 1.5 per cent to $118.67 per barrel after the bloc on Thursday agreed to boost output by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August rather than 432,000 barrels per day

By Dipo Olowookere Leading brewery firm, Nigerian Breweries Plc, has reacted to media reports that it shielded on its Dutch Chief Executive Officer from being thoroughly probed after he was accused of being involved in corruption. In a statement signed by its Corporate Affairs Director, Ms Sade Morgan, the company said it does not tolerate corruption or bribery of any of its employees, no matter how highly place he is. According to Nigerian Breweries, the matter being reported was looked into, with both internal and external audit and investigation conducted in conjunction with the board of Heineken. “Nigerian Breweries Plc

By Dipo Olowookere The contest on the popular television music talent hunt show, Nigerian Idol, is heating up as the day for unveiling the winner, July 11, 2021, draws closer. Last week, Kingdom Kroseide, Faith Onyeje, Comfort Alalade, Akunna Okey and Francis Atela made it to the top five as Emmanuel Elijah was evicted from the show. The five surviving music acts wowed the viewers and the judges with their performances and the quartet of Obi Asika, Seyi Shay, DJ Sose and Mr P, who were judges last week, encouraged the contestants to put in their best as the contest