Economy
Crude Oil Drops 4% on Inflation, Demand Worries
By Adedapo Adesanya
Crude oil dropped over 4 per cent to a three-month low on Tuesday despite a drop in the pace of inflation in the United States amid fears of a financial crisis that could reduce future oil demand.
Brent futures fell $3.32 or 4.1 per cent to settle at $77.45 a barrel, as the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined by $3.47 or 4.6 per cent to trade at $71.33 per barrel.
Data released on Tuesday showed that US Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4 per cent to 6 per cent in February from 0.5 per cent in January.
That slight slowdown in consumer price growth prompted investors to price in a smaller rate hike by the Federal Reserve in March.
This poses a dilemma for the US Federal Reserve, whose fight to bring inflation to 2 per cent has been complicated by the collapse of two regional banks.
The US central bank uses higher interest rates to reduce inflation. But those higher rates increase consumer borrowing costs, which can slow the economy and reduce oil demand.
The markets widely expect the US central bank to approve another 0.25 percentage point increase to its benchmark federal funds rate.
The Fed’s next two-day meeting starts next Tuesday, March 21.
The failure of both Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in New York, which fell on Sunday, continues to send shockwaves through the markets, including the oil market, despite moves by US regulators to avoid a sector-wide collapse.
Goldman Sachs has predicted that the bank collapse will cause the Feds to change course and pause rate hikes during the meeting next week.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) lent support to prices after projecting higher oil demand in China, the world’s biggest oil importer, in 2023.
Following freedom from COVID-19 curbs, the cartel is optimistic that travels will rise again to pre-pandemic levels.
OPEC, however, left unchanged its forecast for world oil demand to increase by 2.32 million barrels per day, or 2.3 per cent, in 2023.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited recovered 0.22 per cent on Friday despite sell-offs in the banking and the energy counters.
The banking index went down by 0.96 per cent, the energy industry depreciated by 0.35 per cent, the consumer goods sector tumbled by 0.20 per cent, and the commodity space declined by 0.17 per cent, while the insurance and industrial goods sectors improved by 0.09 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
The All-Share Index (AS) increased by 234.52 points to settle at 105,660.64 points compared with the preceding day’s 105,426.12 points, and the market capitalisation gained N147 billion to close at N66.257 trillion versus Thursday’s N66.110 trillion.
During the trading session, UPDC and Abbey Mortgage Bank appreciated by 10.00 per cent each to trade at N2.97 and N4.73 apiece, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills surged by 9.96 per cent to N87.75, Mutual Benefits jumped by 9.38 per cent to N1.05, and Royal Exchange soared by 8.25 per cent to N1.05.
Conversely, International Energy Insurance shed 10.00 per cent to close at N1.62, Africa Prudential declined by 10.00 per cent to crashed by N13.05, Cadbury Nigeria depreciated by 9.42 per cent to N23.55, UPDC REIT slumped by 9.09 per cent to N5.50, and RT Briscoe lost 7.69 per cent to finish at N2.40.
During the session, investors transacted 547.6 million stocks valued at N21.6 billion in 13,244 deals versus the 423.6 million stocks worth N9.2 billion traded in 11,393 deals on Thursday, implying a growth in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 29.27 per cent, 134.78 per cent and 16.25 per cent, respectively.
Mutual Benefits was the most active equity after selling 73.9 million units for N77.5 million, Cutix traded 72.0 million units worth N179.1 million, GTCO transacted 67.9 million units valued at N4.6 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 47.6 million units worth N904.3 million, and Universal Insurance traded 33.0 million units valued at N19.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded its first relative gain against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) this week on Friday, March 28.
The domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by 65 Kobo or 0.04 per cent during the session to settle at N1,538.26/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N1,538.91/$1 as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) boosted forex liquidity to stabilize the market.
Over the last few sessions, the local currency had depreciated due to FX liquidity squeeze in the absence of interventions from the central bank.
So far, interventions in the market this month have neared $1 billion in a bid to strengthen the Nigerian currency.
However, the Naira lost against the British Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N1.00 to sell for N1,991.87/£1 versus the previous day’s N1,990.87/£1 and against the Euro, it declined by N1.40 to quote at N1,660.99/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s value of N1,659.59/€1.
At the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira gained N5 against the US Dollar yesterday to close at N1,555/$1 compared with the preceding trading day’s value of N1,560/$1.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was down on Friday amid a sell-off in US stocks due to poor economic data, with crypto-focused stocks also suffering heavy losses.
Continued macroeconomic woes weighed on the broader crypto market with the implementation of broad-scale US tariffs next week on April 2 by the administration of Mr Donald Trump, which compounded investor concerns across markets.
Ripple (XRP) lost 5.3 per cent to finish at $2.13, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.8 per cent to trade at $126.89, Dogecoin (DOGE) slipped by 4.4 per cent to sell at $0.1755, and Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 4.2 per cent to $606.31.
Further, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 3.1 per cent to close at $86.21, Cardano (ADA) went down by 2.9 per cent to settle at $0.6869, Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 2.5 per cent to $83,699.86, and Ethereum (ETH) slid by 2.2 per cent to $1,877.62, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.17 per cent on Friday, March 28, spurred by a boost in the price of Nipco Plc and Geo-Fluids Plc.
Yesterday, the market capitalisation added N3.27 billion to close for the session at N1.915 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.912 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased by 5.66 points to 3,316.17 points from Thursday’s 3,310.51 points.
Nipco Plc gained N19.50 to finish at N220.00 per share compared with the previous day’s N200.50 per share, and Geo-Fluids Plc grew by 20 Kobo to sell at N2.70 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N2.50 per unit, while UBN Property Plc lost 20 Kobo to close the day at N1.98 per share versus the N2.20 per share it was sold a day earlier.
Trading data showed an increase of 76.8 per cent in the volume of securities transacted to 1.3 million units from the 712,439 units traded in the previous trading day, the value of transactions slid by 71.2 per cent to N8.8 million from the N30.5 million recorded in the preceding day, and the number of deals went down by 76.1 per cent to 11 deals from the 46 deals recorded a day earlier.
When the bourse ended for the session, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 533.9 million units valued at N520.9 million, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with the sale of 70.0 million units worth N23.8 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 44.1 million units sold for N89.0 million.
The most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis was FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with the sale of 13.7 million units valued at N528.6 million, trailed by Impresit Bakolori Plc with a turnover of 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 17.8 million units sold for N364.2 million.
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