Economy
Brent Jumps to $73 Per Barrel as Trump Threatens Buyers of Venezuela Crude
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil prices went up by 1 per cent on Monday after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on countries buying the oil and gas from Venezuela.
The price of Brent crude grew by 84 cents or 1.2 per cent to $73 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude appreciated by 83 cents or 1.2 per cent to $69.11 per barrel.
President Trump’s new policy relieves some pressure on oil major Chevron to quickly exit Venezuela after the US Treasury Department on March 4 gave it 30 days to wind down operations.
Now, it has given the oil producer until May 27 to wind down its oil operations and exports from Venezuela.
Mr Trump had issued the initial wind-down after he accused Venezuelan President, Mr Nicolas Maduro, of not making progress on electoral reforms and migrant returns.
The two moves taken together alleviate some pressure on Chevron while putting more pressure on other consumers of Venezuelan oil.
However, market analysts noted that it is uncertain how the Trump administration will enforce the tariff.
Punishing foreign buyers of Venezuela’s oil with tariffs could hit its crude exports, forcing price discounts, and have a similar effect to secondary sanctions on the country that President Trump imposed during his first term in 2020.
The US last Thursday issued new sanctions intended to hit Iranian oil exports, including targeting Chinese independent refineries processing the country’s crude.
Also, the American President is mulling fresh tariffs on automobiles, aluminum and pharmaceuticals.
He has also urged the US Federal Reserve to lower interest rates after the central bank last week kept them unchanged.
Lower rates decrease the costs of borrowing, and can boost economic activity and demand for oil.
Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) will likely proceed with a planned May oil output hike.
This capped priced just as talks continued to end the war in Ukraine, which could increase supply of Russian crude to global markets.
Officials from the US and Russia were in Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks over a broad ceasefire in Ukraine, with the US also targeting a separate Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal while a wider agreement is discussed.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four price decliners further weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.46 per cent on Thursday, July 2.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc went down by N5.55 to N146.46 per unit from N152.01 per unit, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc fell by N1.10 to N20.30 per share from N21.40 per share, UBN Property Plc lost 11 Kobo to sell at N1.99 per unit versus the previous day’s N2.10 per unit, and Mass Telecoms Innovation Plc depreciated by 4 Kobo to 32 Kobo per share from 36 Kobo per share.
Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 19.74 points to close at 4,248.46 points compared with Wednesday’s closing value of 4,268.20 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N11.85 billion to N2.549 trillion from N2.561 trillion.
Yesterday, the volume of transactions went up by 92.9 per cent to 440,653 units from 229,238 units, and the number of deals rose by 77.8 per cent to 32 deals from 18 deals, while the value of trades contracted by 51.4 per cent to N10.5 million from N21.5 million.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 68.9 million units exchanged for N4.8 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units sold for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The selling pressure on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited persisted on Thursday, causing a further decline of 0.61 per cent.
Data from Customs Street showed that the insurance counter lost 2.46 per cent, the banking space declined by 2.15 per cent, the industrial goods sector crumbled by 1.00 per cent, the energy index fell by 0.23 per cent, and the consumer goods segment crashed by 0.08 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 1,368.10 points to 224,321.97 points from 225,690.07 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N878 billion to N143.947 trillion from N144.825 trillion.
Trading data indicated investors bought and sold 855.4 million shares for N28.4 billion in 51,609 deals versus the 488.1 million shares worth N14.0 billion traded in 46,929 deals on Wednesday, showing a spike in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 75.25 per cent, 102.86 per cent, and 9.97 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock for the session was Sterling Holdings, with a turnover of 459.6 million units worth N3.7 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 41.2 million units for N4.2 billion, Universal Insurance sold 30.2 million units valued at N25.2 million, Access Holdings traded 29.7 million units worth N654.9 million, and FCMB transacted 28.2 million units valued at N271.4 million.
Yesterday, 13 equities gained weight, while 34 equities shed weight, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
Guinea Insurance lost 10.00 per cent to trade at 90 Kobo, International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.84 per cent to N5.22, The Initiates dropped 9.79 per cent to close at N23.50, Tantalizers declined by 9.52 per cent to N3.61, and NEM Insurance crashed by 9.25 per cent to N28.12.
On the flip side, Austin Laz gained 10.00 per cent to close at N3.63, Learn Africa also improved by 10.00 per cent to N9.90, DAAR Communications appreciated by 9.49 per cent to N1.50, UPDC soared by 9.09 per cent to N3.60, and Caverton flew higher by 8.51 per cent to N5.10.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira continued to gain ground against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), as it further chalked up N2.26 or 0.16 per cent to sell for N1,370.15/$1 on Thursday, July 2, in contrast to Wednesday’s rate of N1,372.41/$1.
However, this was not the case for the domestic currency against the Pound Sterling at the same market window, the official market. It lost N10.44 to close at N1,832.17/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,821.73/£1, and fell against the Euro by N2.91 to trade at N1,568.28/€1 compared with the N1,565.37/€1 it was traded at midweek.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira gained N5 against the US Dollar yesterday to quote at N1,390/$1 versus the preceding session’s N1,395/$1, and at the GTBank FX counter, it appreciated by N7 to settle at N1,382/$1 versus N1,389/$1.
There are expectations that the Naira will remain within range as pressure from people taking half-year profits has tapered down while continued stronger policy signals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) back the market.
Data from the apex bank showed that interbank FX turnover declined to $85.517 million across 94 deals closed by financial institutions trading on behalf of their clients from $90.303 million the previous day.
The last two trading sessions have seen a sharp decline in interbank FX turnover, down from an intra-week high of $269.898 million, according to data obtained from the CBN.
Despite a sharp slowdown in CBN FX intervention, the broader expectation remains that the Naira will trade within a relatively stable range through the remainder of 2026.
As for the cryptocurrency market, a squeeze on bearish traders pushed Bitcoin (BTC) toward $62,000, capping the market’s first genuinely strong week since mid June. It improved its value by 1.8 per cent to $61,644.94.
Data from Coinglass showed that traders betting against crypto lost $281 million to liquidations over the past 24 hours, against $159 million in longs, out of $440 million in total forced closures across 95,690 traders.
Cardano (ADA) rose by 6.6 per cent to $0.1651, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 5.5 per cent to $1,716.65, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 4.2 per cent to $1.10, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 3.3 per cent to $0.0751, Solana (SOL) also chalked up 3.3 per cent to sell at $80.95, Binance Coin (BNB) added 2.0 per cent to close at $562.22, and TRON (TRX) jumped by 1.0 per cent to $0.3186, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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