Economy
Crude Oil Market Declines on Supply Risks Ease
By Adedapo Adesanya
The crude oil market closed lower on Friday, extending pressures from the week due to easing concerns over supply risks from the Israel-Hezbollah conflict and the prospect of increased supply in 2025.
Brent crude depreciated by 34 cents or 0.46 per cent yesterday to settle at $72.94 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contracted by 72 cents or 1.05 per cent to $68.00 per barrel.
For the week, Brent declined by 3.1 per cent while WTI lost 4.8 per cent as trading activity was muted because of the US Thanksgiving public holiday.
Worries about the ceasefire continued to impact the market with Israeli tanks entering a Lebanese border village.
The ceasefire that took effect on Wednesday reduced oil’s risk premium, sending prices lower despite accusations of violations by both sides.
However, the Middle East conflict has not disrupted supply, which is expected to be more ample in 2025.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) sees the prospect of more than 1 million barrels per day of excess supply, equal to more than 1 per cent of global output.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, postponed its next meeting on output policy to December 5 from December 1.
The group said moving the date would avoid a clash with a summit of Gulf Arab countries which is due to be held in Kuwait City on December 1 which several OPEC+ ministers plan to attend.
Prior to this development, OPEC+ was discussing postponing its oil output hike due to start in January for the first quarter of 2025.
Top OPEC+ ministers have held talks ahead of the meeting. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, de facto head of OPEC, on Wednesday had a phone call with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Kazakh Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev while in Kazakhstan on an official visit.
Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Russia held talks in Baghdad on Tuesday.
Market analysts warned that the group has to consider the risk of further price weakness amid expectations for robust production from non-OPEC+ producers next year could lead to a crude surplus.
Others also worry that the incoming Donald Trump administration could have a high influence on decision-making.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended with a 0.92 per cent growth on Monday, January 6 as investors rebalance their portfolios.
Five stocks trading at Nigeria’s OTC securities exchange influenced the positive outcome yesterday, with the value of the bourse growing by N9.58 billion to N1.056 trillion from the N1.046 trillion it ended last Friday.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 27.95 points to 3,080.29 points from the 3,052.34 points recorded at the previous session.
11 Plc jumped during the day by N23.21 to N255.31 per share from N232.10 per share, Acorn Petroleum Plc expanded by 14 Kobo to sell at N1.54 per unit versus N1.40 per unit, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc went up by 2 Kobo to settle at 22 Kobo per share compared with the preceding day’s 20 Kobo per share, Afriland Properties Plc added 13 Kobo to close at N16.12 per unit versus N15.99 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc chalked up 24 Kobo to quote at N40.00 per share, in contrast to last Friday’s N39.76 per share.
On Monday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 83.7 per cent to 1.8 million units from 11.3 million units, and the value of shares traded yesterday depreciated by 63.5 per cent to N20.7 million from the N56.8 million recorded in the preceding session, but the number of deals increased by 7.4 per cent to 29 deals from 27 deals.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc was the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.8 million units worth N72.4 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and IGI Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.8 million units valued at N72.4 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc followed with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a 0.16 per cent or N2.53 depreciation on the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, January 6 to close at N1,536.58/$1 compared with last Friday’s price of N1,534.05/$1.
However, in the same market segment, which is the official market, the domestic currency traded flat against the British Pound Sterling and the Euro during the trading session at N1,902.55/£1 and N1,579.52/€1, respectively.
It was a similar scenario in the parallel market yesterday, where the Naira value remained unchanged against the greenback at N1,655/$1 as the market was able to soak forex demand pressure for now.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was positive on Monday as most of the tokens tracked by this newspaper turned green as anticipation of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president is building bullish sentiment for Bitcoin (BTC) and the broader crypto market.
Mr Trump’s expected crypto policies and broader economic plans have brought back positive sentiment among traders — bumping up crypto prices.
Market analysts added that market volatility is expected to stay low until the US Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) report is released on Friday, which some believe will kick-start the new trading year with decision-makers fully back at work.
BTC gained 2.5 per cent during the session to sell at $101,864.32, Binance Coin (BNB) also appreciated by 2.5 per cent to close at $730.65, Ripple (XRP) increased its value by 1.4 per cent to $2.43, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 1.2 per cent to settle at $0.3907, Solana (SOL) recorded a 0.9 per cent growth to trade at $216.30, Cardano jumped by 0.7 per cent to end at $1.09, and Ethereum (ETH) expanded by 0.2 per cent to $3,673.05.
But the price of Litecoin (LTC) went down on Monday by 1.5 per cent to close at $112.92, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
The positive momentum witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the beginning of the year continued on Monday as the bourse climbed further by 0.06 per cent at the close of transactions.
It was a tough battle between the bulls and the bears during the trading day, but the former won after the insurance and the banking sectors closed higher by 4.12 per cent and 0.74 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that the consumer goods, the industrial goods, and the energy counters went down by 0.35 per cent, 0.10 per cent and 0.07 per cent, respectively, as a result of profit-taking yesterday.
However, they could not affect the outcome of Customs Street when trading activities ended, leaving the All-Share Index (ASI) growing by 61.91 points to 103,648.24 points from 103,586.33 points, and the market capitalisation increased by N38 billion to N63.204 trillion from N63.166 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained strong on Monday after a positive market breadth index buoyed by 48 price gainers and 19 price losers.
Wema Bank and DAAR Communications chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N11.00 and 77 Kobo, respectively, as Honeywell Flour gained 9.99 per cent to finish at N8.37, Coronation Insurance expanded by 9.96 per cent to N2.98, and Lasaco Assurance appreciated by 9.95 per cent to N4.09.
On the flip side, Cutix shed 5.45 per cent to quote at N2.60, Caverton lost 5.36 per cent to trade at N2.65, Jaiz Bank declined by 5.23 per cent to N3.08, Champion Breweries plunged by 4.53 per cent to N4.00, and Ikeja Hotel slipped by 4.26 per cent to N12.35.
Yesterday, the trading volume, value, and number of deals went up by 20.68 per cent, 62.20 per cent and 21.42 per cent, respectively.
A total of 856.0 million stocks valued at N13.3 billion were traded during the session in 16,505 deals versus the 709.3 million stocks worth N8.2 billion transacted in 13,593 deals last Friday.
On top of the activity chart was Chams, with 80.8 million equities sold for N191.5 million, Veritas Kapital traded 60.5 million shares worth N105.7 million, Access Holdings exchanged 54.3 million stocks valued at N1.4 billion, GTCO transacted 54.0 million shares worth N3.1 billion, and Prestige Assurance sold 48.9 million equities valued at N76.0 million.
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