By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session after the 2024 Christmas break on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Friday.

The local stock exchange closed lower by 0.05 per cent during the trading session as the market participants embarked on profit-taking.

The sell-offs were prominent in the banking and energy sectors, crumbling by 1.16 per cent and 0.21 per cent, respectively.

However, the insurance index maintained its upward movement with a 2.31 per cent growth, as the consumer goods and industrial goods counters gained 0.15 per cent and 0.01 per cent apiece.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 52.73 points to 102,133.30 points from 102,186.03 points and the market capitalisation declined by N32 billion to N61.912 trillion from N61.944 trillion.

Despite the loss suffered by the bourse, investor sentiment was bullish after 45 equities ended on the gainers’ chart and 18 equities finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index.

Honeywell Flour shed 9.09 per cent to trade at N6.30, RT Briscoe waned by 5.66 per cent to N2.50, Neimeth slowed by 5.47 per cent to N1.90, Eterna gave up 5.00 per cent to settle at N28.50, and Tantalizers soured by 4.44 per cent to N1.72.

Conversely, University Press expanded by 10.00 per cent to N3.85, Coronation Insurance grew by 10.00 per cent to N1.87, Universal Insurance rose by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, Ikeja Hotel jumped by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, and May and Baker inflated by 9.94 per cent to N9.40.

The busiest stock yesterday was UBA with 41.7 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Access Holdings traded 35.4 million units worth N871.3 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 33.3 million units valued at N1.5 billion, GTCO transacted 22.9 million units worth N1.3 billion and Jaiz Bank sold 19.2 million units for N57.2 million.

When trading activities ended for the session, the value of shares went down by 4.37 per cent to N17.5 billion from N18.3 billion, the volume of transactions increased by 4.61 per cent to 451.7 million shares from 431.8 million shares, and the number of deals surged by 49.97 per cent to 12,551 deals from 8,369 deals.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The value of the Naira appreciated against the US Dollar by 0.16 per cent or N2.15 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, December 27 as festive activities wound down in the country.

During the last trading session of the Christmas week, the domestic currency was exchanged at N1,538.50/$1 in the official window, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,540.65/$1.

The official market closed on Wednesday (December 25) and Thursday (December 26) for the holidays but resumed yesterday, with two more trading sessions left in the year.

December activities are winding down and the influx of FX from foreigners in the country will start reducing, with more demand for the Dollar set to occur in the coming days.

At the spot market on Friday, the local currency depreciated against the British Pound Sterling by N1.31 to wrap the session at N1,934.22/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing price of N1,932.91/£1 and against the Euro, it lost N5.51 to sell for N1,605.47/€1, in contrast to the previous session’s N1,599.96/€1.

A look at the parallel market showed that the Nigerian Naira maintained stability against the greenback yesterday at N1,640/$1.

The Naira for most of December trended upward since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-backed Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) launched on December 2.

The platform which set new guidelines for authorised Foreign Exchange (FX) dealers made it harder to sell at inflated rates to avoid CBN’s punishment.

Last week, to further alleviate pressure on the official market, the apex bank granted Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators temporary access to NAFEM, which is the official market, as part of efforts to further strengthen the Naira in the currency market.

In the cryptocurrency market, there was a mixed outcome as the landscape cooled ahead of next year’s promises, including a more relaxed crypto environment in the US.

Litecoin (LTC) declined by 3.4 per cent to $99.59, Solana (SOL) shed 1.4 per cent to sell at $185.53, Bitcoin (BTC) slid by 1.00 per cent to $94,327.94, Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $3,337.53, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) fell by 0.06 per cent to $0.9983, and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) lost 0.01 per cent to settle at $0.9998.

On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.9 per cent to $0.3159, Ripple (XRP) gained 0.2 per cent to quote at $2.16, Cardano (ADA) also improved by 0.2 per cent to $0.8076 and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.06 per cent to $696.24.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The crude oil market increased by more than 1 per cent on Friday, buoyed by a large drawdown from US crude inventories last week, with Brent gaining 91 cents or 1.2 per cent to settle at $74.17 per barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) jumping by 98 cents or 1.4 per cent to $70.60 per barrel.

Crude oil prices ticked slightly higher after the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a large draw in crude oil inventories for the week to December 20 versus a modest inventory dip of 900,000 barrels for the previous week and a draw of 3.2 million barrels as estimated by the American Petroleum Institute (API) for the week to December 20.

Total motor gasoline (petrol) inventories added 1.6 million barrels in the period, with production averaging 9.9 million barrels daily. This compared with a build of 2.3 million barrels for the previous week when gasoline production stood at an average of 9.9 million barrels.

Optimism over Chinese economic growth has also sparked hopes of higher demand next year from the top oil-importing nation.

The Chinese government is attempting to speed up economic growth through a series of stimulus packages, all of which have been seen as bullish for crude oil prices to varying degrees.

This week, the country agreed to issue special treasury bonds worth 3 trillion yuan ($411 billion) next year.

Despite the stimulus, however, China’s two biggest oil companies recently forecast peak demand in the world’s biggest importer.

CNPC earlier this month said demand for oil in China could peak in 2025, and Sinopec said a few days later the peak may take place in 2027.

China’s oil demand growth has been slowing down due to weaker economic performance and a shift to electric vehicles and LNG-fueled trucks.

Also, the World Bank on Thursday raised its forecast for Chinese economic growth in 2024 and 2025.

On the geopolitical front, the war between Russia and Ukraine may be returning to the forefront after numerous events this week that could impact supplies next year.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a political-military alliance to promote stability and security, said on Friday it would boost its presence in the Baltic Sea, a day after Finland seized a ship carrying Russian oil on suspicion of causing internet and power cable outages.

In the Middle East, Israel raided a north Gaza hospital on Friday and struck targets linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen on Thursday.