Economy
COVID-19: NSE Helps Govt, Firms Raise N968bn

By Tenebe Anthonia
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has continued to provide an enabling environment for government and corporate organisations to raise capital for some critical operations.
The exchange, since the activation of its Business Continuity Plan on March 24, 2020 as a result of the lockdown caused by the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has attracted several new listings to the market.
Over three months ago, the NSE made it possible for trading to be done remotely so as not to cause a shutdown of the market because of the health crisis.
During this period, the exchange has helped government and corporates to raise not less than N968 billion, ranging from new and supplementary bond listings to rights issues, private placements and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
These funds have been utilised to pay down financial obligations, support working capital, improve infrastructure development and facilitate business expansion.
On Monday, June 29, 2020, one of the latest to raise capital from the market, LAPO Microfinance Bank, listed its N6.2 billion bond on the NSE.
This listing came closely on the heels of the listing of Dangote Cement’s N100 billion bond on Friday, June 26, 2020, which is the largest corporate bond issued in the Nigerian debt capital market.
The CEO of NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, in a recent interview, stated that, “The NSE is resolute in its commitment to be a trusted business partner to all our Issuers in accessing right-sized capital and achieving their strategic business objectives.
“In our efforts to fulfil this mandate, we have achieved all-round increased efficiency in terms of competitive pricing structures, increased turnaround time, enhanced customer experience and improved time to market.
“We believe this has translated into the remarkable resilience we have displayed amidst this pandemic, as well as increased investors’ confidence as reflected in stakeholders’ participation in our market across various asset classes,” Mr Onyema had said.
Since March 24, the NSE has successfully listed: LAPO Microfinance Bank’s N6.2 billion bond; 900,000 units of the NewGold ETF valued at N7 billion; Dangote Cement Plc’s N100 billion bond; UACN Property Development Plc’s N16 billion rights issue; and FBNQuest Merchant Bank’s Series-1 N5 billion bond.
Other were Flour Mills’ N12.5 billion and N7.5 billion bonds; Primero BRT Securitisation SPV Plc bond worth N16.1 billion bond; Golden Guinea Breweries Plc’s N1.2 billion Private Placement; and several government bonds worth over N797 billion.
Economy
Naira Falls to N1,500/$1 at Official Market, Appreciates to N1,570/$1 at Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya
For the fourth consecutive trading session, the value of the Nigerian currency, the Naira, depreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo to trade at N1,500.65/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,499.76/$1.
However, the Naira improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N8.19 to sell for N1,859.98/£1 compared with Wednesday’s closing price of N1,868.17/£1, but against the Euro, the local currency depreciated by N1.77 to settle at N1,555.18/€1, in contrast to midweek’s value of nN1,553.41/€1.
At the black market, the local currency gained N20 against the greenback during the session to quote at N1,570/$1 versus the N1,590/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
In the cryptocurrency market, it was majorly red on Thursday due to profit-taking as the US Securities and Exchange Commission took the first step toward allowing new crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the price of assets like Litecoin and Solana, as well as new ways of redeeming funds from existing crypto ETFs.
Meanwhile, companies took another step toward launching Ripple (XRP) ETFs in a further sign of the new crypto-friendlier administration at the agency.
Data indicated that Cardano (ADA) went down by 5.1 per cent to trade at $0.7169, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.8 per cent to finish at $192.63, and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 4.5 per cent to sell at $0.2509.
In addition, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 4.3 per cent to close at $2,713.47, Ripple (XRP) weakened by 3.6 per cent to end at $2.36, Litecoin (LTC) retreated by 1.9 per cent to close at $103.95, and Bitcoin (BTC) dipped by 0.5 per cent to sell for $97,344.70.
However, the price of Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.4 per cent to trade at $579.91, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
Economy
Buying Pressure Buoys NGX All-Share Index by 0.10%

By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited witnessed continued buying interest from offshore and domestic investors on Thursday, strengthening the market further by 0.10 per cent at the close of transactions.
Data revealed that the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 105.26 points yesterday to 105,430.15 points from the preceding day’s 105,324.89 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N65 billion to close at N65.287 trillion compared with the previous session’s N65.222 trillion.
Business Post observed that the market participants showed interest in equities across the key sectors of the exchange because of their prospects to yield better value later.
The insurance counter gained 0.63 per cent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.18 per cent, the energy index improved by 0.13 per cent, the banking space jumped by 0.09 per cent, and the industrial goods industry grew by 0.04 per cent.
Eterna chalked up 9.88 per cent to trade at N33.35, Cadbury Nigeria also gained 9.88 per cent to finish at N26.70, Fidson increased its value by 9.77 per cent to N19.10, UPDC rose by 9.77 per cent to N2.36, and Deap Capital soared by 9.38 per cent to N1.05.
On the flip side, Tripple G lost 9.72 per cent to end at N2.23, Golden Breweries receded by 8.91 per cent to N7.87, Veritas Kapital slumped by 7.81 per cent to N1.18, Caverton dipped by 5.53 per cent to N2.05, and Regency Alliance slipped by 4.05 per cent to 71 Kobo.
When the bourse closed for the session, there were 33 price advancers and 23 price decliners, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Yesterday, investors bought and sold 537.2 million shares valued at N23.0 billion in 15,450 deals versus the 1.1 billion shares worth N28.8 billion traded in 15,080 deals on Wednesday, representing a rise in the number of deals by 2.45 per cent, and a decline in the trading volume and value by 49.19 per cent and 20.14 per cent, respectively.
Access Holdings led the activity log with 61.6 million stocks valued at N1.7 billion, Sterling Holdings exchanged 50.2 million equities for N296.2 million, Zenith Bank traded 40.5 million shares worth N2.0 billion, FBN Holdings sold 38.8 million equities valued at N1.3 billion, and UPDC transacted 23.6 million stocks worth N54.4 million.
Economy
Crude Oil Market Dips as Trump Reiterates US Plans to Boost Production

By Adedapo Adesanya
The crude oil market continued its downward movement on Thursday after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, repeated a pledge to raise his country’s oil production.
Consequently, the price of Brent crude futures fell by 32 cents or 0.4 per cent to $74.29 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined by 42 cents or 0.6 per cent to $70.61 per barrel.
President Trump repeated a pledge to boost US production in a bid to lower oil prices and ease consumer inflation. The US is already the biggest crude producer in the world.
This move unnerved traders a day after the country reported a much bigger-than-anticipated jump in crude stockpiles.
Market analysts have questioned whether US oil producers will be willing to pump more barrels in the current market especially with Trump’s tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports looming.
US government data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed domestic crude stockpiles rose by 8.7 million barrels last week on Wednesday.
Prices also drew support from new US sanctions against individuals and entities for facilitating shipments of Iranian oil to China.
This is as President Trump reimposed a maximum pressure campaign against Iran, but also said he was open to a deal with the oil producing country.
The US said the tankers onboarded Iranian crude from storage in China as part of a scheme involving Iran’s military, which stands to profit from the sale of the oil.
The sanctions block access of the individuals and entities to any of their assets in the US and prohibit US foreign assistance.
China is also not sitting on its oars, it responded to the US blanket tariff of 10 per cent on all Chinese imports with several measured retaliatory tariffs, including a 15 per cent levy on LNG and 10 per cent on crude oil imports from the US.
US crude exports could slide to 3.6 million barrels per day this year, especially if the Trump Administration enacts the tariffs on Mexico and Canada – currently on pause until March 4.
Amid these developments, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, Aramco has sharply raised prices for buyers in Asia.
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