Economy
Asian Shares Surge as Tensions Ease on Korean Peninsula
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks ended Wednesday?s session on an upbeat note as American firms posted strong quarterly earnings and tensions eased on the Korean Peninsula.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is engaged in direct talks at ?extremely high levels? with North Korea to try to set up a summit in the next two months.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index advanced 24.51 points or 0.8 percent at 3,091.31 after the People’s Bank of China lowered the reserve requirement ratio for most commercial banks in a bid to free up funds for lending and improve liquidity. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 221.50 points or 0.7 percent to 30,284.25.
In another development, China said it would allow full foreign ownership of automakers in five years, ending restrictions that helped to fuel its dispute with Washington.
Japanese shares rallied as the yen weakened on hopes for improved relations between the U.S. and North Korea. Investors also digested trade data and kept an eye on the U.S.-Japan summit talks.
The Nikkei 225 Index jumped 310.61 points or 1.4 percent to 22,158.20, while the broader Topix index closed up 1.1 percent at 1 749.67. Toyota Motor rose 0.7 percent, Sony rallied 1.6 percent and Panasonic added 1.5 percent on a weaker yen.
Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 797.3 billion yen in March, the Ministry of Finance said, up 32.1 percent year-over-year. The surplus exceeded expectations for 499.2 billion yen and was up sharply from 3.4 billion yen in February.
Australian shares eked out modest gains, led by miners as Chinese steel prices climbed following the central bank?s move to cut reserve requirements for banks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 19.90 points or 0.3 percent to 5,861.40, while the broader All Ordinaries Index closed up 22 points or 0.4 percent at 5,956.30.
Rio Tinto rose 1.1 percent after reporting an increase in first-quarter iron ore shipments, and rival BHP Billiton gained half a percent ahead of its quarterly production report due out Thursday. South32 rallied 2.5 percent and BlueScope Steel shares jumped 4.1 percent.
Woodside Petroleum gained 1.1 percent after its first-quarter revenue rose 30 percent from a year earlier. Santos, Oil Search, Origin Energy and Beach Energy climbed 1-2 percent.
Meanwhile, AMP lost 2.2 percent to extend losses from the previous session after the wealth manager admitted in the banking royal commission that it lied or misled the corporate regulator twenty times about its business practices.
Seoul stocks closed higher after Trump said his administration has been in direct contact with North Korea and South Korea said it is seeking a peace deal with the country, helping ease political tensions.
The benchmark Kospi surged up 26.21 points or 1.1 percent to 2,479.98, led by technology stocks. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics jumped 2.8 percent and chipmaker SK Hynix advanced 2.2 percent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Brent crude rose by 3.83 per cent or $3.04 to $82.29 per barrel on Thursday after an information that an Iranian parliament committee was reviewing a bill that would ban US and Israeli vessels from the Strait of Hormuz.
Also, the price of the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures went up by 81 cents or 1.05 per cent to $77.29 per barrel during the session.
Under the apparent draft, Iran would ban American and Israeli ships from transiting the strait. Other nations that have harmed Iran would not be allowed to transit until compensation is paid, according to the draft. Iran would impose penalties on violators equivalent to 20 per cent of the value of cargo aboard a ship.
Market analysts noted that crude traders remain focused on the US-Iran agreements, and the longer the delays, the more prices will fade back to the upside.
Iran has warned Gulf states that any new US attack on its territory would trigger attacks on critical energy infrastructure across the region.
Before the Iran conflict began in late February, about one-fifth of global daily oil and liquefied natural gas supplies flowed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthis said they carried out missile and drone attacks on “Saudi deployments” in Marib and Hadramout in Yemen on Thursday. This has led to elimination of Saudi-aligned fighters as well as destruction of military camps, weapons depots and vehicles.’
Also, Iran and Oman appear to be close to agreeing on joint management of the Strait of Hormuz with Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei, saying the deal with Oman was “in the final stages.”
Saudi Arabia has slightly lowered the official selling price for its flagship Arab Light crude oil to Asia in September.
Elsewhere, a major oil refinery in Russia’s Yaroslavl region was on fire after a big Ukrainian drone attack. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the country’s military had hit two Russian oil refineries – the Bashneft-Novoil refinery in the republic of Bashkortostan, and the Slavneft-Yanos refinery in the Yaroslavl region.
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.
