Economy
Domestic Bourse Bounces Back by 0.22% as Naira Stuns Dollar
By Dipo Olowookere
Investors found solace in Nigerian stocks on Friday following news that the Naira was regaining its value against the Dollar in the unofficial market segments.
The information made Naira-denominated investments attractive again as speculators, who had earlier hoarded the foreign currency, pushed the greenback into the market after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) started to clear outstanding matured FX futures.
This strengthened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.22 per cent yesterday due to the buying pressure, especially from equities in the consumer goods sector.
The consumer goods index was the lifesaver on the last trading session of the week, growing by 0.37 per cent, as the energy counter remained flat.
However, the banking space went down by 0.82 per cent, the industrial goods sector depreciated by 0.65 per cent, and the insurance counter decreased by 0.26 per cent.
When the closing gong was struck at 2:30 pm, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 154.49 points to settle at 70,196.77 points versus Thursday’s closing value of 70,042.28 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N75 billion to end at N38.557 trillion versus the preceding day’s N38.482 trillion.
International Breweries outperformed yesterday, gaining 9.64 per cent to close at N4.55, ABC Transport rose by 8.86 per cent to 86 Kobo, Champion Breweries expanded by 8.82 per cent to N3.70, Royal Exchange appreciated by 8.00 per cent to 54 Kobo, and AIICO Insurance increased by 7.14 per cent to 75 Kobo.
On the flip side, Prestige Assurance lost 8.89 per cent to trade at 41 Kobo, Tantalizers depreciated by 8.89 per cent to 41 Kobo, Chams shed 8.18 per cent to finish at N2.02, DAAR Communications declined 8.00 per cent to 23 Kobo, and NEM Insurance slumped by 5.88 per cent to N5.60.
The bears and the bulls shared the spoils during the trading session, as the market breadth index was flat with 26 price gainers and 26 price losers.
However, the activity chart was mixed as the trading value surged by 50.82 per cent to N9.2 billion from N6.1 billion, while the trading volume shrank by 21.90 per cent to 410.4 million shares from 525.5 million shares and the number of deals contracted by 23.34 per cent to 6,436 deals from 8,396 deals.
The stock with the highest volume of trade was Fidelity Bank, with 61.1 million units valued at N514.2 million, followed by Japaul with 47.8 million units worth N58.0 million. UBA exchanged 30.9 million units worth N636.5 million, GTCO transacted 29.9 million units valued at N1.1 billion, and AIICO Insurance sold 25.3 million units for N17.8 million.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
A minority equity stake in Chappal Energies Mauritius Limited has been acquired by a Nigerian energy firm, Aradel Holdings Plc.
This deal came a few days after Chappal Energies purchased a 53.85 per cent equity stake in Equinor Nigeria Energy Company Limited (ENEC).
Chappal Energies went into the deal with Equinor to take part in the oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitised 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron.
Since production started in 2008, the Agbami field has produced more than one billion barrels of oil, creating value for Nigerian society and various stakeholders.
As part of the deal, Chappal will assume the operatorship of OML 129, which includes several significant prospects and undeveloped discoveries (Nnwa, Bilah and Sehki).
The Nnwa discovery is part of the giant Nnwa-Doro field, a major gas resource with significant potential to deliver value for Nigeria.
In a separate transaction, on July 17, 2024, Chappal and Total Energies sealed an SPA for the acquisition by Chappal of 10 per cent of the SPDC JV.
The relevant parties to this transaction are working towards closing out this transaction and Ministerial Approval and NNPC consent to accede to the Joint Operating Agreement have been obtained.
“This acquisition is in line with diversifying our asset base, deepening our gas competencies and gaining access to offshore basins using low-risk approaches.
“We recognise the strategic role of gas in Nigeria’s energy future and are happy to expand our equity holding in this critical resource.
“We are committed to the cause of developing the significant value inherent in the assets, which will be extremely beneficial to the country.
“Aradel hopes to bring its proven execution competencies to bear in supporting Chappal’s development of these opportunities,” the chief executive of Aradel Holdings, Mr Adegbite Falade, stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Afriland Properties Plc helped the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange record a 0.04 per cent gain on Tuesday, December 10 as the share price of the property investment rose by 34 Kobo to N16.94 per unit from the preceding day’s N16.60 per unit.
As a result of this, the market capitalisation of the bourse went up by N380 million to remain relatively unchanged at N1.056 trillion like the previous trading day.
But the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closed higher at 3,014.36 points after it recorded an addition of 1.09 points to Monday’s closing value of 3,013.27 points.
The NASD OTC securities exchange recorded a price loser and it was Geo-Fluids Plc, which went down by 2 Kobo to close at N3.93 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N3.95 per share.
During the trading session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors increased by 95.8 per cent to 2.4 million units from the 1.2 million securities traded in the preceding session.
However, the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 3.7 per cent to N4.9 million from the N5.07 million recorded a day earlier, as the number of deals surged by 27.3 per cent to 14 deals from 11 deals.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.7 billion units sold for N3.9 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units worth N5.3 million.
Also, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 108.7 million units worth N89.2 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.5 million units sold for N5.3 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira continued to appreciate on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), gaining 0.7 per cent or N10.23 on Tuesday, December 10 to trade at N1,542.27/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,552.50/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform introduced to tackle speculation and improve transparency in Nigeria’s FX market has been attributed as the source of the Naira’s appreciation.
Speculators holding foreign currencies, particularly the US Dollar, have seen the value of their money drastically drop due to the appreciation of the local currency. This is forcing them to dump greenback into the system and take the domestic currency alternative- a move that has seen available FX increase.
Equally, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the trading day by N6.81 to sell for N1,955.12/£1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N1,961.93/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N10.84 to close at N1,613.00/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,623.84/€1.
Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that the value of forex transactions significantly increased yesterday by $228.85 million or 257.2 per cent to $401.17 million from the preceding session’s $112.32 million.
However, in the parallel market, the Nigerian currency weakened against the US Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to settle at N1,625/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,620/$1.
In the cryptocurrency market, Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 4.8 per cent to sell at $0.39116, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 3.3 per cent to trade at $110.25, Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 2.3 per cent to $681.44, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 1.6 per cent to finish at $3,671.08, and Cardano (ADA) slid by 0.5 per cent to $0.8837
Conversely, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 5.4 per cent to $2.23 amid a continued shift for the coin with its parent company seeing the benefits of a crypto-friendly regulatory environment for US-based companies.
XRP is closely related to Ripple Labs, a high-profile payments company targeted by the SEC in 2020 on allegations of selling the token as a security to U.S. investors. Ripple fully cleared a long-drawn court case in 2024.
Further, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $219.75, Bitcoin (BTC) grew by 0.4 per cent to $97,446.95, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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