Economy
Index Drops 0.69% as Investors Trim Exposure to Conoil, BUA Foods Stocks
By Dipo Olowookere
In a bid to trim their exposure to the equity market and possibly diversify into other asset classes, investors on Thursday rebalanced their portfolios and sold off some of their holdings in Conoil, BUA Foods, GTCO, Oando, Airtel Africa, Zenith Bank and 16 others.
The hiking of the benchmark interest rate to 13.0 per cent by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently and the disclosure on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that inflation in May rose by 17.71 per cent have given investors an opportunity to review their investment strategy.
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited is on the hot seat for this and has struggled to replicate the positive momentum it recorded some weeks ago, especially at a time the main focus is now on political activities in the country ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Yesterday, the exchange further depreciated by 0.69 per cent for the third trading session on the back of sustained profit-taking. It has only managed a single upward movement in the last six trading days and four in the last 13 sessions.
The All Share Index (ASI), which measures the overall performance of the market, depreciated by 364.31 points to settle at 52,411.09 points compared with the previous day’s 52,775.40 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N197 billion to close at N28.255 trillion versus Wednesday’s N28.452 trillion.
Business Post reports that the consumer goods counter closed higher by 0.01 per cent during the session, while the energy, banking, insurance and industrial goods sectors finished lower by 0.83 per cent, 0.62 per cent, 0.28 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively.
A total of 211.6 million shares worth N2.4 billion exchanged hands in 4,750 deals on Thursday as against the 188.1 million shares worth N2.4 billion traded in 4,890 deals at the midweek session. This indicated that while the number of deals reduced by 2.86 per cent, the volume of trades increased by 12.51 per cent and the value of transactions remained unchanged.
Sterling Bank sold 63.7 million stocks valued at N97.5 million, Zenith Bank transacted 17.3 million shares worth N382.6 million, UBA traded 17.3 million equities for N131.9 million, Transcorp exchanged 16.2 million shares for N21.0 million, while FBN Holdings sold 10.3 million equities worth N101.0 million.
On the price movement index, Conoil was the worst-performing stock as it dropped 10.00 per cent to settle at N28.80, BUA Foods declined by 9.97 per cent to N53.75, eTranzact depleted by 9.96 per cent to N2.44, CWG fell by 9.62 per cent to 94 kobo, while Eterna went down by 6.25 per cent to N7.50.
On the flip side, Linkage Assurance finished the day as the best performer as it gained 9.80 per cent to quote at 56 kobo, Courteville rose by 8.00 per cent to 54 kobo, Japaul appreciated by 6.90 per cent to 31 kobo, Chams chalked up 4.17 per cent to sell at 25 kobo, while UPDC grew by 4.08 per cent to N1.02.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria ranked as Africa’s leading destination for upstream oil and gas investment in 2024, new research from market intelligence firm, Wood Mackenzie, has shown, accounting for three out of four Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) announced by global oil and gas majors, totaling $13.5 billion.
The FIDs announced within the Nigerian market included Shell’s $122 million investment in the Iseni Gas Project, TotalEnergies’ $566 million commitment to the Ubeta Gas Project and Shell’s approval of the Bonga North Tranche 1 project valued at around $5 billion.
According to the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Ms Olu Verheijen, these investments reflected Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to unlock its hydrocarbon potential through investor-friendly policies and strategic global partnerships.
Last year, Nigeria introduced several initiatives to create a conducive environment for oil and gas investors, including new tax incentives aimed at attracting up to $10 billion in natural gas investments.
Nigeria, which is Africa’s largest oil producer, also offered tax relief for gas investors, reducing corporate income tax and extending capital allowance benefits – for deepwater gas projects.
Other policies include the Presidential Directive on Local Content Compliance Requirements 2024 to address the reduction in oil and gas investments caused by high operating costs compared to global markets.
Also, the Presidential Directive on Reduction of Petroleum Sector Contracting Costs and Timelines 2024 reduces the time spent to award contracts for oil and gas projects.
In addition to the directives, Nigeria also launched its 2024 oil and gas licensing round, offering 19 blocks for exploration, demonstrating its commitment to continued collaboration with local, regional and international partners.
Market analysts note that with this momentum, further FIDs are anticipated, including TotalEnergies’ expected $750 million commitment to the Ima Shallow Gas Project in 2025.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.22 per cent decline on Monday, January 20, with the market capitalisation shedding N2.35 billion to close at N1.073 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N1.075 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) going down by 6.79 points to wrap the session at 3,105.12 points compared with 3,111.91 points recorded in the previous session.
It was observed that the loss recorded on the first trading day of the week was triggered by UBN Property Plc, which crashed by 20 Kobo to trade at N2.00 per share versus last Friday’s N2.20 per share.
However, the share price of Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc went up by 4 Kobo to 40 Kobo per unit from 36 Kobo per unit, it could not stop the bourse from going down at the close of transactions.
The activity chart showed that on Monday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 57.9 per cent to 767,610 units from the 486,215 units traded in the preceding session, while the value of shares traded yesterday slumped by 17.7 per cent to N2.3 million from the N2.8 million recorded in the preceding trading day, as the number of deals declined by 14.3 per cent to 12 deals from the 14 deals carried out in the previous trading day.
At the close of transactions, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 4.1 million units worth N162.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with a turnover of 9.1 million units valued at N44.0 million, and 11 Plc with the sale of 55,358 for N14.5 million.
Also, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 25.3 million units sold for N5.9 million, Geo-Fluids Plc came next with 9.1 million units valued at N44.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.1 million units worth N162.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Naira weakened against the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, January 20 amid FX pressures associated with this period.
Most people who came into the country for Christmas and New Year holidays are already going back and are in need of forex, putting pressure on the local currency.
Also, the poor performance of the domestic currency could be attributed to end to the 42-day access granted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators to buy forex at official price.
According to data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange, the Nigerian Naira lost 0.16 per cent or N2.47 on the greeback yesterday to sell at N1,550.05/$1, in contrast to last Friday’s rate of N1,547.58/$1.
Similarly, the Naira slumped against the Pound Sterling in the spot market on Monday by N23.39 to trade at N1,906.98/£1 versus N1,883.59/£1 and depreciated against the Euro by N23.14 to sell for N1,613.48/€1 compared with last Friday’s N1,590.34/€1.
However, in the parallel market, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Dollar during the session by N5 to quote at N1,665/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,670/$1.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it turned red yesterday as the US President, Mr Donald Trump, didn’t bring up the much-expected subject of crypto in his inauguration speech on Monday afternoon.
Mr Trump had promised a far more friendly crypto policy stance than the previous administration but in the long speech that announced his plans in the coming days, he didn’t make mention of Bitcoin or crypto.
Just over the weekend, the President ignited a speculative frenzy with the Friday evening launch of the Trump meme coin, which was shortly followed by a meme coin associated with his wife, Melania.
Dogecoin (DOGE) crumbled yesterday by 6.3 per cent to $0.3419, Solana (SOL) slumped by 4.7 per cent to $235.32, Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to $0.9777, and Litecoin (LTC) moderated by 1.9 per cent to $114.98.
Further, Ethereum (ETH) went down by 1.7 per cent to $3,241.36, Binance Coin (BNB) retreated by 1.4 per cent to $693.30, Ripple (XRP) depreciated by 1.2 per cent to $3.06, and Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled by 0.8 per cent to $101,746.99, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
-
Feature/OPED5 years agoDavos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism8 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years agoEstranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years agoSort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years agoSubsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years agoFirst Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years agoHighest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years agoHow To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN