Economy
Asian Shares Fall as Trade War Fears Resurface
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks fell on Thursday as trade war fears resurfaced and the U.S. Federal Reserve sounded slightly more hawkish after raising interest rates for the second time this year.
Investors also adopted a cautious stance ahead of the European Central Bank’s monetary policy announcement later in the day amid expectations the central bank will signal a winding down of its vast bond-buying program by the end of this year.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipped 5.33 points or 0.2 percent to 3,044.46 after reports suggested the Trump administration is preparing to proceed with tariffs on Chinese goods.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 284.98 points or 0.9 percent to close at 30,440.17 after a slew of economic data from China disappointed investors.
Industrial production in China was up an annual 6.8 percent in May, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That was shy of expectations for 7.0 percent, which would have been unchanged from April.
Chinese retail sales grew an annual 8.5 percent in May – also missing expectations for 9.6 percent and down from 9.4 percent in the previous month.
Fixed asset investment gained 6.1 percent year-on-year, missing forecasts for 7.0 percent, which would have been unchanged from the April reading.
Japanese shares lost ground as a firmer yen on worries about global trade and a faster pace of interest rate hikes sapped investors’ appetite for risk.
The Nikkei 225 Index slumped 227.77 points or 1 percent to 22,738.61, while the broader Topix Index closed 0.9 percent lower at 1,783.89.
Toyota shed 0.9 percent after saying it will invest $1 billion in Asia ride-sharing company Grab. Honda Motor, Nissan, Panasonic and Sony declined 1-2 percent. Toshiba jumped 2.7 percent after announcing a share buyback.
Japanese industrial production climbed 0.5 percent month-over-month in April, faster than the 0.3 percent estimated earlier, final data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. This marked the third successive monthly increase.
Australian shares fluctuated before closing slightly lower, dragged down by banks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index edged down 6.90 points or 0.1 percent to 6,016.60, while the broader All Ordinaries Index ended little changed with a negative bias.
The big four banks fell between half a percent and 1.1 percent ahead of ECB and BoJ meetings. Atlas Iron slumped 18.2 percent after the government said it doesn’t have priority rights to develop certain ship berths in Port Hedland.
Material stocks bucked the downward trend, with heavyweights BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rising 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Gold miner Newcrest advanced 1 percent to snap a four-session losing streak. Telstra Corp, Australia’s largest telecom company, jumped over 5 percent after an upgrade from J.P. Morgan.
DroneShield’s shares climbed almost 14 percent after the drone security firm won its biggest ever order for DroneGuns from an unspecified Middle Eastern country.
The unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 5.4 percent in May, a tad below expectations for 5.5 percent and down from 5.6 percent in April. The economy added 12,000 jobs last month, shy of expectations for 19,000 after an addition of 22,600 a month earlier.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 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, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
