Economy

Global Crude Oil Market Regains Strength After Trump’s Speech

Published

6 years ago

14/03/2020

By Adedapo Adesanya

The oil markets wrapped up its worst week in 12 years with a marginal recovery on Friday. During the week, the market witnessed crash in prices of the commodity and an expected increase in production.

The Brent fell in the week by over 24 percent, the biggest weekly loss for the commodity since the 2008 global financial crisis, while the WTI registered a 23 percent drop.

But on Friday night, the Brent crude futures gained 0.73 percent or 23 cents to trade at $35.44 per barrel, while its US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude counterpart registered a 24 cents or 0.68 percent growth to sell at $31.73 per barrel.

On Wednesday, President of the United States, Mr Donald Trump, banned foreign travels mostly from European countries into America and last night, he declared a national emergency for the coronavirus, which has nearly shutdown global economy.

The US President’s speech contained some pointers that boosted the confidence of a waning market, even by a little.

According to Mr Trump, the US government will buy large quantities of crude for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, mentioning that this would save the taxpayer billions of dollars, while helping out the oil industry, and working towards the goal of energy independence.

Prices crashed on Monday by over 25 percent when Saudi Arabia placed discounts on all its crude grades, leading an already affected market into a more dangerous territory. This move was taken after a plan to cut oil production by 1.5 million barrels with Russia did not work.

The Kingdom, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates have also made intentions known that when the current deal of 1.7 million barrels per day cut made by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) expires on March 31, they will increase output as part of plans to capture their own market share.

Saudi Arabia is looking to increase its daily production to 13 million barrels per day, while the UAE national oil company, ADNOC, said it would raise crude supply to more than four million barrels per day in April and would accelerate plans to boost its capacity to five million barrels per day, a target it previously planned to achieve by 2030.

The extra oil the two Gulf allies plan to add is equivalent to 3.6 percent of global supplies and will pour into the market at a time when global fuel demand in 2020 is waning.

According to forecast by OPEC, global oil demand is expected to rise by 60,000 barrels per day in 2020 after it has slashed its forecasts by 920,000 barrels per day in February.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) also noted that oil demand was set to drop this year for the first time since the financial crisis due to the coronavirus outbreak and its impact on economies. The IEA now sees global oil demand falling by 90,000 barrels per day, in 2020.

Economy

New Deadline for Filing Annual Income Tax Now April 21—LIRS

Published

1 day ago

11/04/2026

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The deadline for filing individual annual income tax returns for residents of Lagos State has again been extended to April 21, 2026.

This information was revealed via a statement signed by the Head of Corporate Communications of the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mrs Monsurat Amasa-Oyelude, on Saturday.

The agency thanked some taxpayers for their continued compliance and commitment to the filing of their individual annual income tax returns, but charged those who have yet to file theirs to do so before the new deadline.

LIRS had earlier moved the deadline from its statutory period of March 31, 2026, to April 14, 2026, but due to “the overwhelming response and to enhance taxpayer convenience, while maintaining the integrity and accuracy of submissions,” the date was moved forward to April 26.

The tax-collecting organisation said it “observed a significant increase in traffic on its eTax platform as more taxpayers endeavour to meet the filing deadline.”

“In view of this development, and to ensure that all taxpayers are provided with adequate opportunity to successfully complete their filings, LIRS hereby announces a further extension of the deadline, now set for April 21, 2026,” it stated.

The agency reiterated that all filings must be completed electronically via the LIRS eTax platform: https://etax.lirs.net, which remains the only approved channel for submission.

Taxpayers were reminded that the filing of annual income tax returns remains a statutory obligation and were encouraged to take advantage of this final extension to fulfil their civic responsibility.

Economy

Nigerian Stock Investors Gain N707bn on Renewed Bargain-Hunting

Published

2 days ago

11/04/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was in green on Friday after it closed higher by 0.30 per cent as a result of sustained bargain hunting.

Customs Street was up yesterday after three of the five major sectors came under buying pressure, with the consumer goods index up by 1.64 per cent, the industrial goods space up by 1.12 per cent, and the banking counter up by 0.64 per cent.

Business Post observed that profit-taking brought down the insurance by 2.61 per cent, and weakened the energy sector by 0.01 per cent.

At the close of business, the market capitalisation increased by N707 billion to N131.166 trillion from N130.459 trillion, and the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 1,097.86 points to 203,770.42 from 202,672.56 points.

Transactions by Nigerian stock investors shrank during the session, as 548.6 million shares worth N31.5 billion exchanged hands in 48,538 deals compared with the 652.9 million shares valued at N39.8 billion transacted in 51,101 deals a day earlier.

This implied that the trading volume went down by 15.98 per cent, the trading value depreciated by 20.85 per cent, and the number of deals crashed by 5.02 per cent.

Access Holdings finished the day as the busiest equity after selling 52.7 million units valued at N1.4 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 47.8 million units worth N5.4 billion, UBA traded 38.9 million units for N1.8 billion, Secure Electronic Technology transacted 36.7 million units worth N35.5 million, and GTCO sold 34.9 million units valued at N4.6 billion.

The market breadth index was negative during the session with 20 price gainers and 38 price losers, indicating weak investor sentiment.

Trans Nationwide Express appreciated by 9.91 per cent to N3.77, International Breweries grew by 9.88 per cent to N13.35, Chams rose by 9.84 per cent to N3.35, Guinea Insurance improved by 9.38 per cent to N462.90, and Lafarge Africa gained 8.52 per cent to close at N233.20.

On the flip side, Omatek lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N2.07, Austin Laz declined by 9.93 per cent to N3.99, Coronation Insurance dipped by 9.88 per cent to N2.92, Zichis crashed by 9.58 per cent to N12.55, and Cornerstone Insurance retreated by 8.77 per cent to N5.20.

Economy

NASD Market Ends Week Lower Amid Continued Sell-Offs

Published

2 days ago

11/04/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed the last trading session of the week in the southern territory after further losing 0.59 per cent on Friday, April 10.

This happened as three price decliners weakened the NASD market due to continued sell-offs. The bourse did not finish in green this week.

11 Plc lost N24.70 to close at N222.30 per share compared with the previous day’s N247.00 per share, MRS Oil dropped N1 to settle at N164.00 per unit versus Thursday’s N165.00 per unit, and Geo-Fluids decreased by 25 Kobo to N3.00 per share from N3.25 per share.

As a result, the market capitalisation shrank by N13.79 billion to N2.315 trillion from N2.329 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) declined by 23.05 points to 3,870.45 points from 3,893.50 points.

Yesterday, there were two price gainers led by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc, which chalked up N1.07 to sell at N64.21 per unit versus N63.50 per share, and Impresit Bakalori Plc appreciated by 22 Kobo to N2.42 per share from N2.20 per share.

The volume of securities fell by 81.9 per cent to 188,593 units from 1.04 million units, the value of securities decreased by 36.3 per cent to N25.7 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals remained unchanged at 26 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 57.6 million units exchanged for N3.9 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.6 million units worth N1.8 billion.

GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units transacted for N8.4 billion, followed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units s0ld for N415.7 million and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded at N1.2 billion.