Economy
Asian Stock Markets Trade Mixed as Investors Await Cues from G-7 Summit
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks ended on a mixed note Tuesday as weak commodity prices pulled down resource stocks and investors waited for cues from the G-7 summit in Canada later this week as well the June 12th summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Gold held steady after three sessions of declines and the dollar held near a two-week high against the yen, while oil edged higher after falling nearly 2 percent in the previous session on concerns over growing U.S. production and expectations of higher OPEC supplies.
Chinese shares rose after data showed activity in China’s service sector expanded at a steady pace in May. The Caixin Services PMI stood at 52.9, matching expectations and unchanged from the previous month. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 23.22 points or 0.8 percent to end at 3,114.41.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 95.47 points or 0.3 percent to 31,093.45 despite the Nikkei PMI score for the private sector coming in at 47.8 in May, down from 49.1 in April.
Japanese shares eked out modest gains as the yen edged lower against the dollar and data on service sector activity and household spending painted a mixed picture of the economy. The Nikkei 225 Index inched up 63.60 points or 0.3 percent to 22,539.54, while the broader Topix Index finished marginally higher at 1,774.96.
Tech shares followed their U.S. peers higher, with Tokyo Electron and Advantest ending up more than 1 percent each. Japan Communications soared 7.3 percent after Japan’s financial watchdog said it would support a fintech experiment project by a consortium including the company.
Sharp Corp. lost 4.1 percent on reports that it is in talks to finalize a deal to buy Toshiba Corp’s personal computer business for around 5 billion yen.
Meanwhile, Australian shares closed lower as iron ore and oil prices fell and the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged at a historic low of 1.5 percent for the 20th consecutive meeting, citing sluggish wage growth and tepid inflation.
The service sector in Australia continued to expand in May and at an accelerated pace, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group revealed with a Performance of Service Index score of 59.0, up from 55.2 in April.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 30.60 points or 0.5 percent to 5,994.90, while the All Ordinaries Index ended down 30.10 points or 0.5 percent at 6,108.50.
Commonwealth Bank rose 1 percent to extend Monday’s gains after settling a civil lawsuit. The other three big banks fell between 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent.
The overnight fall in oil prices weighed on the energy sector, with Oil Search, Santos and Origin Energy losing 1-2 percent. Miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group dropped more than 1 percent each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has passed a bill to repeal and re-enact the law establishing the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), paving the way for the regulatory agency to be renamed the Insurance Regulatory Commission (IRC).
The legislation, titled the Insurance Regulatory Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2026, was passed after the Senate considered and adopted the report of its committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Adetokunbo Abiru, the senator representing Lagos East, who presented the report, stated that the proposed legislation was necessary because the existing National Insurance Commission Act of 1997 had become outdated and no longer reflected the realities of Nigeria’s evolving insurance industry or global regulatory standards.
According to the Senate, the decision to change the Commission’s name was informed by the need to eliminate confusion associated with the existing designation and to better reflect the institution’s regulatory mandate within Nigeria’s insurance industry.
The bill also provides legal protection for the commission and its officers against adverse claims arising from the lawful execution of their statutory duties.
However, he noted that the commission’s enabling law had become obsolete, exposing significant regulatory gaps that required urgent legislative intervention.
‘The current National Insurance Commission Act 1997 is outdated and does not adequately address the emerging economic growth, needs and development of the insurance business,” the lawmaker said.
He explained that the new legislation seeks to strengthen the independence of the commission by empowering it to make regulatory decisions without undue influence in the country’s insurance sector.
According to him, the bill also enhances the commission’s authority to exchange information and collaborate with domestic and international regulatory bodies, issue regulations, guidelines, standards and directives on insurance-related matters, and intervene more effectively in financially distressed insurance companies to protect policyholders and preserve financial stability.
This marks yet another move to strengthen the country’s insurance sector following the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) of 2025 and the industry-wide recapitalisation exercise, which will wrap up by July 31.
By Adedapo Adesanya
About 143 companies that successfully passed the technical and prequalification stages of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) 2025 Licensing Round will, today, compete for 50 oil and gas blocks at the commercial bid conference in Abuja, the final stage in the allocation process for the assets.
The commission said only the prequalified companies have been invited to attend the event, which will hold at the Conference Centre of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, stressing that participation is strictly by invitation.
The commercial bid conference will determine the successful bidders for oil and gas assets located across Nigeria’s producing and frontier basins.
The 50 blocks comprise 16 onshore blocks and 18 shallow water blocks in the Niger Delta, one deep offshore block, three onshore blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.
According to the commission, the winning bids will be determined through a transparent evaluation process based on clearly defined commercial parameters. These include the signature bonus offered by bidders, the proposed work programme commitment and the level of performance security provided. The final selection will be based on a weighted technical and commercial score.
The licensing round is being conducted under the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which requires a transparent and competitive process for the award of petroleum assets.
NUPRC had announced the commencement of the 2025 Licensing Round on November 11, 2025, before opening the online bid portal on December 1, 2025, to enable interested companies to register and participate in the exercise.
To ensure prospective investors fully understood the requirements, the commission organised a pre-bid conference on January 14, 2026, at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos. The event provided detailed explanations on the licensing guidelines and bidding procedures to registered participants and other stakeholders.
Registration and submission of prequalification documents closed on February 27, 2026, while the prequalification evaluation was completed on March 16, 2026.
NUPRC disclosed that 286 companies initially submitted applications for prequalification.
Following the evaluation process, 196 companies were cleared to participate in the technical and commercial bid stages.
The prequalified 143 companies eventually submitted a total of 200 bids for the available oil and gas blocks. These companies are now set to compete at the commercial bid conference, where the financial offers will be opened and evaluated to determine the eventual winners.
The licensing round is expected to attract fresh investment into Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector, boost exploration activities across both producing and frontier basins, increase crude oil and gas reserves, and support the country’s drive to grow production and government revenue.
It also underscores the regulator’s commitment to implementing a transparent, competitive and investor-friendly licensing regime under the Petroleum Industry Act.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has retained all key monetary policy parameters following the conclusion of its two-day meeting on July 21, 2026, on Tuesday, maintaining its tight monetary policy stance to curb inflation and support macroeconomic stability.
According to the Governor of the apex bank, Mr Yemi Cardoso, who chaired the committee, the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which serves as the benchmark interest rate, remains at 26.50 per cent. The MPC also retained the asymmetric corridor around the MPR at +50 basis points and -450 basis points.
In addition, the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for commercial banks was left unchanged at 45.00 per cent, while the CRR for merchant banks remains at 16.00 per cent. The committee also retained the CRR on non-Treasury Single Account (Non-TSA) public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent, with the liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent.
The decision reflects the apex bank’s continued commitment to containing inflationary pressures through a restrictive monetary policy while safeguarding the resilience of Nigeria’s financial system amid ongoing macroeconomic adjustments.
By keeping all policy tools unchanged, the MPC signalled its intention to continue managing excess liquidity in the banking sector and maintain stability in financial markets.
The move is also expected to provide greater policy certainty for investors and businesses monitoring the country’s monetary policy direction.
The latest decision also means borrowing costs are likely to remain elevated in the near term as the central bank continues to prioritise price stability over monetary easing.
Analysts had expected the CBN committee to retain the rate after Nigeria’s headline inflation came in at 15.91 per cent as of June 2026, marking a slight decline from 15.93 per cent in May.
However, even as overall price growth has moderated significantly compared to previous periods, food inflation remains a persistent challenge, accelerating to 17.52 per cent in June.
