Economy
How to Trade Gold in Nigeria
Gold has traditionally been seen as a way to store your money. It’s not affected directly by either fiscal policy or monetary policy of governments and central banks like currencies.
It will always be worth something – unlike a currency that can end up being almost worthless as a result of rapid inflation, for instance. That’s why whether it’s in the uptrend or in the downtrend, the gold market offers high liquidity and excellent profit-making opportunities due to its unique position within the world’s economic and political systems.
Some traders often fail to take full advantage of the changes in gold prices because they haven’t learned its unique characteristics or the hidden pitfalls that can steal their profits. Let’s take a look at the advantages of trading gold, factors that can influence its prices and how to trade gold profitably.
What Drives Gold Prices
Like we’ve mentioned before, gold prices can be driven by a limited number of catalysts. Market sentiment, volume and trend intensity are generally driven by:
- Inflation and deflation
- Greed and fear
- Supply and demand
Market participants can face increased risk when they trade gold in reaction to one of these factors, when in fact, it’s another one driving price action. Imagine there’s a major selloff in the financial market, and gold starts rallying.
Traders assume that fear is moving the precious metal and expect that the emotional crowd will carry the price higher.
However, inflation may have actually triggered the stock’s decline, attracting a more technical crowd to the market that will sell aggressively.
Combinations of these forces are always in play in world markets, establishing long-term themes that track equally long uptrends and downtrends.
Gold attracts numerous crowds with diverse and often opposing interests. The so-called gold bugs (individuals who buy gold as protection against an anticipated collapse in the value of currency, stocks, etc.) stand at the top of the crowd, allocating an outsized portion of family assets to gold equities. They are long-term market players who are rarely discouraged by recurring downtrends, so they eventually shake out less ideological traders.
Gold bugs add massive liquidity, providing a continuous supply of buying interest at lower prices. They also serve the contrary purpose of providing efficient entry for short-sellers, especially in emotional markets when one of the three above-mentioned factors swings the market in favour of strong buying pressure.
To trade gold profitably, you need to know the crowd sentiment. Cayman Sentiment Index is a unique indicator offered by the AMarkets online broker absolutely for free to all of its clients that will allow you to spot potential market extremes, which can be considered as a strong signal for a correction or a trend reversal.
Examine long-term charts
Make sure to examine the gold chart carefully. Start with a long-term history that goes back at least 100 years. In addition to spotting trends that lasted for decades, you’ll see that the yellow metal has also trended lower for long periods of time, robbing profits from gold bugs. From a strategic standpoint, such an analysis is useful because it helps you identify price levels that need to be watched if and when gold decides to test them again.
Summing up
To trade the gold market profitably, make sure to study how the three polarities we mentioned in this article impact gold buying and selling decisions. Don’t forget to devote some time and analyze the long and short-term gold charts to see which key price levels may come into play.
Keep in mind that traders widely use gold as a “safe haven” asset. When market participants are worried about risk trends, they tend to flock to gold.
On the other hand, as risk appetite grows, expect a selloff in haven assets. As you can see, gold is an important hedge tool against inflation and a valuable asset that can bring you good profits.
If you consider trading gold, make sure you choose a reputable global broker with favourable trading conditions. AMarkets offers some of the lowest spreads in the industry to trade gold.
Just recently, it slashed its spreads on gold by 30% on ECN accounts, allowing its clients to make the most out of their gold trading.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited rebounded by 0.46 per cent on Tuesday despite continued weak investor sentiment due to low confidence in the market.
The gains recorded yesterday were largely impacted by significant trades in First Holdco by a major shareholder of the financial institution.
In terms of price gainers and losers, the bears won the race, as 28 equities closed in the red and 24 equities ended in the green, indicating a negative market breadth index.
Learn Africa grew by 10.00 per cent to N9.90, First Holdco expanded by 9.98 per cent to N72.15, Thomas Wyatt rose by 9.80 per cent to N2.69, RT Briscoe improved by 8.68 per cent to N13.15, and Transcorp Hotels increased by 8.37 per cent to N242.00.
Conversely, International Energy Insurance lost 9.86 per cent to close at N4.66, Legend Internet slipped by 9.18 per cent to N4.45, Fortis Global Insurance decreased by 7.67 per cent to N2.77, FTN Cocoa tumbled by 7.55 per cent to N8.21, and International Breweries dropped 4.79 per cent to trade at N13.90.
Business Post reports that First Holdco led the activity chart with a turnover of 326.9 million units worth N22.3 billion. GTCO traded 22.5 million units valued at N2.8 billion, Access Holdings transacted 18.5 million units for N461.6 million, FCMB sold 16.1 million units worth N166.8 million, and Zenith Bank exchanged 15.9 million units valued at N1.7 billion.
At the close of business, a total of 634.8 million stocks valued at N53.3 billion exchanged hands in 42,494 deals versus the 523.5 million stocks sold for N22.3 billion in 59,945 deals on Monday, indicating a shortfall in the number of deals by 29.11 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 21.26 per cent and 139.01 per cent, respectively.
The All-Share Index (ASI) was up during the trading day by 1,121.33 points to 242,870.44 points from 241,749.11 points, and the market capitalisation gained N719 billion to settle at N155.849 trillion compared with the previous day’s N155.130 trillion.
Market participants will be looking forward to the release of inflation data for June 2026 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) today, Wednesday, July 15.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices climbed about 2 per cent to a one-month high on Tuesday after the US reportedly reimposed a naval blockade on Iran, which will reduce oil flows from the region through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent futures rose by $1.43 or 1.7 per cent to settle at $84.73 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased by $1.20 or 1.5 per cent to $79.34 a barrel.
Brent closed at its highest since June 12, and WTI at its highest since June 15. The closing price increase kept Brent in technically overbought territory for a second day in a row for the first time since March.
Before the Iran war, about 20 per cent of global oil supplies flowed through the strait.
US President Donald Trump stepped back from a proposal to charge a 20 per cent fee to guard the Strait of Hormuz as part of the conflict with Iran, saying he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states.
US forces had carried out waves of attacks for the third night after Iran said it had closed the strait. President Trump on Monday reinstated a blockade of Iranian shipping and proposed the fee, but hours before the fee was to take effect, the American President said the strait was open to all shipping traffic except that of Iran.
The renewed attacks have fed doubts that a memorandum of understanding signed last month will lead to a permanent halt in the war that has disrupted global energy supplies and stoked inflation fears.
Data showed that US consumer inflation slowed more than expected in June as energy prices retreated, but financial markets still expect an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh on Tuesday vowed to “do my job” if challenged by President Trump, who has said he wants the US central bank to cut interest rates and boost economic growth.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the US fell by 564,000 barrels in the week ending July 10. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 399,000 barrels.
Although commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have been falling rapidly for three months now, shedding just over 60 million barrels over the last twelve weeks, US crude inventories are only down 9.2 million barrels so far this year. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its report later on Wednesday.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The 700,000 barrels per day Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun pricing fuel products for the local market in US Dollars amid crude supply challenges.
The company cited difficulties securing sufficient crude under the government’s Naira-for-crude programme and rising global oil prices as reasons for the development.
The Naira-for-crude programme, launched in October 2024, allowed domestic refiners to purchase crude in the local currency and reduced pressure on the foreign exchange market.
Mr Edwin Devakumar, the vice president of the Dangote Group, said the refinery had been absorbing a currency mismatch by selling products in Naira while sourcing crude in Dollars, but limited crude supply under the Naira-for-crude programme had undermined the arrangement’s viability.
Dangote has now set the ex-depot price of petrol at $0.779 per litre, diesel at $1.087 per litre and aviation fuel at $0.942 per litre, according to a pricing template circulated to marketers.
Although the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited increased Dangote’s allocation to seven cargoes in May from about five previously, the refiner has said it requires 13 to 15 cargoes a month and has been forced to import the remainder at international prices.
The decision could boost demand for Dollars among fuel marketers and make domestic fuel prices more sensitive to exchange-rate fluctuations.
Dangote Refinery is steadily ramping up operations toward full capacity after a gradual start since late 2023. In April alone, it received 21 separate crude cargoes, with all supplies coming from West Africa, mainly Nigerian crude grades, with one cargo from Cameroon; however, it boosted international cargoes in recent months.
The refinery has been broadening the range of crude grades it processes as part of its ambition to operate as a fully merchant refinery. In 2025, about 70 per cent of the refinery’s crude imports came from Nigeria, while 24 per cent originated from the United States.
Dangote plans to double the refinery’s processing capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day by the end of 2028, a level that would enable it to process about 80 per cent of Nigeria’s recent crude oil production in a single day.
