By Dipo Olowookere

Nigeria’s stock exchange succumbed to profit-taking on Friday, losing 0.19 per cent when the closing gong was hit at 4 pm.

Shares in the banking and energy sectors influenced the decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, as they respectively closed lower by 0.40 per cent and 0.04 per cent.

The industrial goods index was flat yesterday, while the insurance counter gained 0.68 per cent and the consumer goods space chalked up 0.25 per cent. The gains by these two segments could not keep Customs Street in the green territory at the close of business.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 474.00 points to 247,357.40 points from 247,831.40 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N306 billion to N159.588 trillion from N159.894 trillion.

Presco dropped 10.00 per cent during the trading day to close at N2,070.00, Thomas Wyatt crumbled by 9.93 per cent to N3.63, Trans-Nationwide Express plunged by 8.44 per cent to N2.82, Royal Exchange slipped by 7.86 per cent to N1.29, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shrank by 7.32 per cent to N3.80.

On the flip side, C&I Leasing improved by 9.48 per cent to N6.35, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, RT Briscoe jumped by 8.61 per cent to N13.25, Honeywell Flour expanded by 7.38 per cent to N17.45, and Africa Prudential increased by 6.98 per cent to N13.80.

Despite the poor performance, the local bourse recorded a positive market breadth index after finishing with 35 price gainers and 25 price losers, representing strong investor sentiment.

It was a relatively quiet market on Friday, as the activity level dropped, with the trading volume down by 27.72 per cent to 565.5 million units from 782.4 million units, and the trading value contracted by 46.89 per cent to N29.9 billion from N56.3 billion, while the number of deals executed by investors soared by 16.03 per cent to 53,688 deals from 46,273 deals.

Access Holdings was the busiest stock for the session, with a turnover of 128.0 million units sold for N3.8 billion, First Holdco transacted 35.4 million units worth N4.3 billion, Chams exchanged 34.8 million units valued at N154.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million units for N3.9 billion, and UBA sold 30.4 million units worth N1.5 billion.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira marked a whole week of appreciation against the United States Dollar on Friday, July 24, further gaining N5.67 or 0.41 per cent to close at N1,362.09/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with N1,367.76/$1 it ended on Thursday.

Equally, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N10.83 to trade at N1,813.62/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,824.45/£1, and improved against the Euro by N7.68 to settle at N1,549.10/€1, in contrast to the N1,556.78/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.

However, at the parallel market and GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the greenback during the session at N1,400/$1 and N1,379/$1, respectively.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buffer has been strengthened with sustained foreign portfolio inflows and robust foreign reserves, which stand above $52 billion.

The apex bank’s policy signals that the Naira will be stronger in the near term, with Nigeria clearing hurdles with FX reforms and settlement of all backlogs.

However, some traders expect that pressure may come due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers as they make Dollar purchases to build ​inventories.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), in the digital currency landscape, trimmed recent gains as it fell by 2.3 per cent to $63,787.73.

The weak action in the AI momentum trade is feeding through to crypto as well.

Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1615, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.8 per cent to $73.71, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.3 per cent to $1.08, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.9 per cent to $1,851.58, Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated by 0.8 per cent to $0.0694, Binance Coin (BNB) contracted by 0.7 per cent to $564.18, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.5 per cent to trade at $0.3292, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil prices were more than 4 per cent lower on Friday after it was reported that China had initiated a push to resume stalled peace talks between the United States and Iran.

Brent futures settled at $96.78 a barrel after it lost $3.91 or ​3.88 per cent, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures finished at $89.31 a barrel, down $2.88 or 3.12 per cent.

⁠Both benchmarked crude rallied this week as the US and Iran exchanged missile strikes, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a trickle, and Yemen’s Houthis attacked shipping in the Red Sea. To make matters worse, Kazakhstan has suspended oil flows via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium system following Ukrainian drone attacks.

However, China’s foreign ministry said “China supports the mediation efforts made by Pakistan and other parties,” adding that the world’s largest oil importer will continue to “play an active role in restoring peace and tranquillity in the Middle East Gulf region as soon as possible.”

Pakistan is exploring a path towards a resumption of stalled US-Iran talks over ending their nearly five-month-old war, following a push initiated by China.

According to Reuters, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, also discussed the new Middle East effort with Chinese officials when he visited China last week.

China is Iran’s largest trading partner and primary buyer of its exported crude oil despite international sanctions on Iran, benefiting from a steep discount on the energy source.

US President Donald Trump had promised “major military punishment” for Iran and ​its Houthi allies after the strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

Iran had been pressing the Houthis to close ​the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the US continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure. It is the second most important ‌route for ⁠energy shipments after the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf.

Additionally, the Houthis declared on Monday that they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, which had been diverting its oil via pipeline to get around Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Daily vessel transits through the strait were steady at three for each of the past three days.

The Red Sea oil chokepoint has been critical for Saudi crude oil shipments after the kingdom has managed in recent months to redirect its exports that previously shipped from the Persian Gulf to Yanbu.