Economy
Asian Stocks Finish Mixed on Chinese Data
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks ended mixed on Friday as weak Chinese data added to investor concerns over Italy’s controversial budget, rising U.S. interest rates and U.S.-Saudi tensions.
The euro lingered near a one-week low against the dollar after the European Commission said Italy’s 2019 budget draft is in serious breach of EU budget rules.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he presumes journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been killed and that the U.S. response to Saudi Arabia will likely be ?very severe.?
Regional markets recovered from a weak start to close mixed after Chinese regulators stepped in to bolster investor confidence.
Chinese shares bounced back from early weakness to close sharply higher after the central bank chief downplayed market fluctuations and the securities regulator said it would encourage funds to help resolve liquidity difficulties at listed companies.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 64.05 points or 2.6 percent to end at 2,550.46, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 106.85 points or 0.4 percent to 25,561.40.
Earlier in the day, data showed Chinese GDP climbed an annual 6.5 percent in the third quarter of 2018, shy of estimates for 6.6 percent and down from 6.7 percent in the previous quarter.
Industrial production climbed 5.8 percent year-on-year in September, below forecasts for 6.0 percent and down from 6.1 percent in August.
However, retail sales climbed an annual 9.2 percent and fixed asset investment gained 5.4 percent to beat forecasts.
Japanese shares fell to extend losses from the previous session, although stocks closed well off their lows as Chinese markets rose despite the weaker than expected GDP data.
The Nikkei 225 Index fell more than 400 points before recovering some lost ground to end the session down 126.08 points or 0.6 percent at 22,532.08. The broader Topix index ended 0.7 percent lower at 1,692.85.
Construction equipment makers continued to fall, with Komatsu losing 3.1 percent and Kubota Corp declining 1.1 percent. Index-heavyweight SoftBank Corp dropped 1.2 percent and Nintendo slumped 4 percent.
Exporters, Honda Motor, Toyota, Sony and Panasonic all fell around 1 percent after the yen strengthened overnight towards the one-month peak versus the dollar reached on Monday.
In economic news, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication said that consumer prices in Japan were up 1.2 percent year-on-year in September. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 1.3 percent, which would have been unchanged from the August reading.
Australian closed marginally lower, with mining stocks pacing the decliners after the release of weak GDP data from China, Australia’s largest trading partner.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index edged down 2.90 points or 0.1 percent to 5,939.50, while the broader All Ordinaries Index slipped 0.1 percent to 6,042.80.
Rio Tinto tumbled 1.7 percent and Fortescue Metals Group lost 2.3 percent as base metal prices dipped on worries about slowing Chinese growth and higher U.S. interest rates. Energy stocks ended mixed as oil prices remained on track for a second weekly drop.
Meanwhile, Saracen Mineral Holdings soared 5.3 percent as gold prices edged higher on safe-haven demand. Banks ANZ, Commonwealth and Westpac rose between 0.6 percent and 1 percent.
By Dipo Olowookere
The three major partners of the Dangote Refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos, MRS Oil Nigeria, Heyden and Ardova Plc, will retail premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at its stations across the country at N970 per litre.
This information was revealed by Dangote Refinery, owned by one of Africa’s richest businessmen, Mr Aliko Dangote.
The three independent oil marketers entered into a bulk-purchasing agreement with the oil facility, which has the capacity to refinery about 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The deal, first sealed by MRS Oil, ensured that it retailed fuel at its petrol stations at N935 per cent litre.
However, last week, Dangote Refinery increased its ex-depot price from N899.50 per litre to N950 per litre due to a rise in the price of crude oil to $80 per litre in the global market from about $72 per barrel.
In a statement on Sunday made available to Business Post, Dangote Refinery said, “All our partners, including Ardova, Heyden, and MRS Holdings, will offer petrol to Nigerians at a retail price of N970 per litre nationwide.
“We have absorbed the increased logistics costs to guarantee uniform pricing across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
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