Economy

Asian Shares Close Higher on US Job Data Release

Published

6 years ago

05/07/2019

By Investors Hub

Asian stocks ended broadly higher on Friday as investors awaited the U.S. jobs report later in the day for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Trading volumes remained light across the region amid a holiday in the U.S. overnight for Independence Day.

The jobs report could determine if the Federal Reserve cuts rates later this month to shore up the world’s largest economy as trade tensions escalate.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 5.81 points or 0.2 percent to 3,011.06, reversing early losses. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ended marginally lower at 28,774.83.

Japanese shares rose in choppy trading on hopes for progress in U.S.-China trade talks. The Nikkei 225 Index edged up 43.93 points or 0.2 percent to 21,746.38, while the broader Topix closed 0.2 percent higher at 1,592.58.

Exporters turned in a mixed performance as the yen held little changed versus the dollar. Honda Motor rose over 1 percent and Advantest climbed 1.8 percent, while Canon slipped 0.3 percent and Panasonic declined half a percent.

Mining and oil shares underperformed as crude oil futures fell more than 1 percent on fears of slowing global growth and data showing a smaller than expected decline in U.S. crude stockpiles.

Seven & I Holdings jumped 3.6 percent after the company said it will compensate some 900 customers using its recently launched 7pay mobile payment service who lost a total of 55 million yen due to unauthorized access to their accounts.

The average of household spending in Japan rose an annual 4.0 percent in May, a government report showed today, coming in at 300,901 yen. That beat expectations for an increase of 1.4 percent.

Australian stocks rose notably, although volumes remained thin amid a holiday in the U.S. on Thursday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 33.30 points or 0.5 percent to 6,751.30, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended up 30.90 points or 0.5 percent at 6,831.80.

Financials and property developers led the surge on expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut interest rates further. Banks Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac rose between 0.3 percent and 0.9 percent.

Scentre Group rallied 2 percent and Goodman Group jumped 2.2 percent as the Australian prudential regulator loosened mortgage lending rules.

Mining giant BHP dropped 1.3 percent and Rio Tinto lost 2.1 percent as iron ore prices retreated from a five-year high. Smaller rival Fortescue Metals Group tumbled 4.4 percent.

On the economic front, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group revealed that the construction sector in Australia continued to contract in June, although at a slower rate.

Seoul stocks ended a choppy session largely unchanged amid a lack of positive catalysts. The Kospi inched up 1.86 points or 0.1 percent to finish at 2,110.59.

Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics shed 0.8 percent after saying it expects its operating profit to tumble 56 percent for the second quarter of this year in the face of a weakening chip market. SK Hynix shares declined 2.6 percent.

Automakers rose, with both Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors rising around 1.8 percent.

Economy

FrieslandCampina, Afriland Properties Weaken NASD Index by 0.24%

Published

9 hours ago

26/04/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange fell by 0.24 per cent on Friday, April 25 after the duo of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Afriland Properties Plc landed on the losers’ table.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc depreciated by N2.58 to sell at N35.37 per unit compared with the previous day’s N37.95 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 2 Kobo to close at N17.78 per share versus Thursday’s closing value of N17.80 per share.

However, Geo-Fluids Plc appreciated by 10 Kobo during the trading day to sell for N1.80 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.70 per unit. The rise in the price of the stock could not prevent the fall of the bourse yesterday.

Consequently, the market capitalisation of the trading platform went down by N4.64 billion to N1.914 trillion from N1.918 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 7.92 points to 3,269.06 points from 3,276.98 points.

The final trading session of the week ended with a surge of 1,695.8 per cent in the volume of securities transacted to 3.7 billion units from the 206.2 milion units transacted in the previous trading day.

Equally, the value of transactions jumped by 2,592.6 per cent to N9.5 billion from N354.1 million on Thursday, and the number of deals decreased by 47.4 per cent to 20 deals from the 38 deals recorded a day earlier.

Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 533.9 million units sold for N520.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 259.3 million units worth N456.1 million, and Okitipupa Plc with 153.6 million units valued at N4.9 billion.

Also, Okitipupa Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 153.6 million units valued at N4.9 billion, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 15.6 million units worth N598.5 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 533.9 million units sold for N520.9 million.

Economy

Nigeria’s Stock Market Gives up 0.30% Friday

Published

9 hours ago

26/04/2025

Dipo Olowookere

stock market how to invest in US stocks in South Africa

By Dipo Olowookere

A 0.30 per cent fall was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday as a result of profit-taking in the industrial goods sector.

This was mainly caused by sell-offs in Dangote Cement Plc, which released its financial statements for the first quarter of 2025 yesterday.

The cement maker lost 10.00 per cent during the session to trade at N432.00, Regency Alliance lost 8.06 per cent to close at 57 Kobo, VFD Group depreciated by 7.57 per cent to N17.10, Chams declined by 7.27 per cent to N2.04, and Sovereign Trust Insurance crashed by 6.12 per cent to 92 Kobo.

Conversely, International Breweries, Legend Internet, and Ikeja Hotel gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N7.70, N6.82, and N12.10 apiece, Vitafoam Nigeria surged by 9.93 per cent to N44.85, and Eterna rose by 9.92 per cent to N39.90.

The industrial goods index was down by 4.73 per cent on Friday, as the others finished in green territory.

The consumer goods space rose by 2.21 per cent, the banking sector appreciated by 1.55 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 1.50 per cent, the energy sector increased by 0.07 per cent, and the commodity industry went up by 0.04 per cent.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 321.21 points to 105,753.05 points from 106,074.26 points and the market capitalisation shrank by N202 billion to N66.465 trillion from N66.667 trillion.

The level of activity increased yesterday as the trading volume, value, and number of deals grew by 30.40 per cent, 94.23 per cent, and 17.64 per cent, respectively.

This was because investors transacted 428.1 million shares worth N20.2 billion in 14,284 deals compared with the 328.3 million shares valued at N10.4 billion in traded in 12,142 deals a day earlier.

GTCO led the activity chart with 60.7 million equities sold for N3.8 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 41.4 million stocks worth N829.3 million, Access Holdings exchanged 40.6 million shares valued at N968.3 million, MTN Nigeria sold 33.0 million equities for N8.2 billion, and Zenith Bank transacted 22.9 million stocks worth N1.1 billion.

Economy

Naira Now N1,599/$1 at Official Market, N1,605/$1 at Black Market

Published

9 hours ago

26/04/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira extended its gains against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, April 25 by 0.22 per cent or N3.59 to sell for N1,599.42/$1 compared with the N1,603.01/$1 it was traded in the previous session.

The Nigerian currency also improved its value against the Euro in the official market by N1.36 to close at N1,818.53/€1 compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1,819.89/€1.

However, the domestic currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the same market segment yesterday by N1.90 to wrap the session at N2,130.44/£1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N2,128.50/£1.

At the black market segment, the Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N2 to quote at N1,605/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s value of N1,607/$1.

In the cryptocurrency market, a possible regulatory progress about digital assets in the US spurred buying interest among investors during the trading session.

The chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Paul Atkins, was at a crypto roundtable on Friday and he devoted his inaugural speech to assuring the industry that he will continue to remake securities policy to favor digital assets innovation.

The agency and industry have been awaiting congressional action to establish crypto market-structure oversight that will likely set guardrails, and Atkins told an audience at the SEC’s Washington headquarters that the regulator will work toward delivering “a rational, fit-for-purpose framework” for crypto.

Litecoin (LTC) rose by 3.0 per cent to $87.24, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 2.7 per cent to $0.1862, Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 1.3 per cent to $94,687.84, Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $1,797.51, Cardano (ADA) improved by 0.9 per cent to $0.7235, and Ripple (XRP) gained 0.6 per cent to close at $2.20.

On the flip side, Solana (SOL) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $151.64, and Binance Coin (BNB) lost 0.8 per cent to sell for $602.89, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.