Decline in US Crude Supplies Triggers Hike in Oil Prices as Brent Hits $61

By Adedapo Adesanya The distributors of petrol and other fuels in Nigeria said they can no longer sustain the distribution of the products nationwide as the price of diesel used to power their trucks is now N1,100/litre in many locations. The marketers, under the aegis of the National Oil and Gas Suppliers Association of Nigeria (NOGASA), raised the concern in a statement on Tuesday. The president of the group, Mr Benneth Korie, said that diesel has witnessed incessant hikes in recent months, lamenting that the development has been worsened by marketers’ inability to secure cheap bank loans that will enable

By Dipo Olowookere Ellah Lakes Plc can now go ahead with its plans to raise fresh capital through a rights issue to shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has declared. In 2022, shareholders of the company authorised the board to source about N2.90 billion. The board later filed an application to the SEC to carry out the transaction. In an update on Wednesday, Ellah Lakes informed the investing community that the apex regulatory agency for the country’s capital market had approved its request. The firm, which operates in the agricultural sector, intends to get N2.90 billion from shareholders from

By Adedapo Adesanya Though the supply of foreign exchange (FX) in Nigeria has remained low, the Naira closed stronger against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments on Wednesday, September 20, and maintained stability in the parallel market. According to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency appreciated against the Dollar in the midweek session by 0.76 per cent or N5.89 to sell for N770.71/$1 versus the previous rate of N776.60/$1 amid a decline in the value of forex transactions by 9.4 per cent or $6.65 million to $64.36 million

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday auctioned Open Market Operations (OMO) bills worth N200 billion to investors as a total of N169.44 billion bills matured at the secondary market. Business Post reports that the exercise was oversubscribed by 238 percent or N281.95 billion, with much concentration on the one-year note. At the close of the OMO sale, the central bank allotted N293 billion worth of the debt instrument to market players. However, the stop rates were reduced by the apex bank on the mid and long-tenor bills sold to investment, while the short-date instrument was

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s total foreign trade for the third quarter of 2020 rose by 34.2 per cent to stand at N8.4 trillion compared to N6.2 trillion recorded in the previous quarter. This was contained in the recently released foreign trade report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which also said in the first nine months of this year, the total trades stood at N23.2 trillion. According to the report, total imports stood at N5.4 trillion in Q3 2020, 33.8 per cent higher than the N4.02 trillion recorded in Q2 2020. On a year-on-year basis, it increased by 38.0

By Dipo Olowookere Federal Government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has unveiled plans to expand gas generation and distribution nationwide as part of efforts to support government’s aspiration to increase power generation to 10GW. Group Managing Director of the agency, Dr Maikanti Baru, made this disclosure when a delegation of the Nigerian Gas Association led by its President, Engr. Dada Thomas, paid him a courtesy visit yesterday, in Abuja. Mr Baru noted that the recent debt settlement for the Joint Ventures would have great impact on the Gas Industry as the initiative was capable of freeing some dedicated funds that

By Modupe Gbadeyanka To celebrate this year’s National Diaspora Day on Saturday, July 25, 2020, the management of Ecobank Nigeria has announced waiving charges on the Rapidtransfer App. A statement from the foremost financial institution said money transfers from the mobile application will attract zero fees from now till October 31, 2020. This is part of Ecobank Nigeria’s way of supporting the federal government, which set aside July 25 of every year as the National Diaspora Day in recognition of the contributions of Nigerians living outside the country towards the development of their homeland. The Rapidtransfer app is Ecobank’s proprietary

By Dipo Olowookere Wheat rust, a family of fungal diseases that can cause crop losses of up to 100 percent in untreated susceptible wheats, is making further advances in Europe, Africa and Asia, according to two new studies produced by scientists in collaboration with FAO. The reports, highlighted in the journal Nature following their publication by Aarhus University and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), show the emergence of new races of both yellow rust and stem rust in various regions of the world in 2016. At the same time, well-known existing rust races have spread to new

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Hours after the new pricing methodology and par value rules of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) took effect on Monday, January 29, 2018, four stocks fell below the earlier 50 kobo per share threshold at the market. The new rules, already approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), made it possible for stocks to be traded below 50 kobo per share. At the close of trading activities yesterday, four equities fell victim of the new rules, trading at 48 kobo per share. These stocks were ABC Transport Plc, Lasaco Insurance Plc, Prestige Insurance Plc and Royal

By Dipo Olowookere President Muhammadu Buhari has accepted to have a crucial meeting with his and South African counterpart, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, in October this year. The South African President had an earlier sent a letter of invitation to President Buhari, but at his country home in Daura, Katsina State, on Saturday, the Nigerian leader put a phone call through to Mr Ramaphosa to agree on a date to have  the discussions. Mr Ramaphosa had said in his invitation to his counterpart that, “Your visit will provide an excellent opportunity for our sister countries to further consolidate and advance our

By Dipo Olowookere The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to the N20 trillion region on Tuesday after it grew by N104 billion to settle at N20.027 trillion in contrast to the previous N19.923 trillion. This was buoyed by a sustained buying interest in banking stocks, which also expanded the All-Share Index (ASI) of the exchange by 198.03 points to 38,418.04 points from 38,220.01 points. Data obtained by Business Post showed that Fidelity Bank was the most traded stock at the market yesterday with 42.1 million units worth N96.6 million. FBN Holdings transacted 32.4 million shares worth