Economy
Investors Continue to Abandon Nigerian Stocks as OMO Bills Yields Rise
By Dipo Olowookere
For the first time in a long period, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) recorded losses in every single trading session of the week.
On Friday, the market depreciated by 0.18 per cent as investors offloaded some stocks so as to try their luck with the fixed income and the cryptocurrency markets.
A day earlier, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shocked the market when it pushed the rates of the Open Market Operations (OMO) bills to double-digits.
This development made some investors reduce their stake in the equity market, causing the bourse’s All-Share Index (ASI) to shorten by 76.71 points to 41,709.09 points from 41,785.80 points. This also sliced the market capitalisation of the NSE by N40 billion to N21.819 trillion from N21.859 trillion.
Business Post reports that apart from the banking index, which grew by 1.36 per cent yesterday, every other sector closed bearish with the insurance index going down by 1.03 per cent, the consumer goods sector lost 0.97 per cent, the industrial goods space fell by 0.26 per cent, while the energy counter dropped 0.13 per cent.
On the activity chart, the number of deals executed on Friday increased by 26.19 per cent to 5,998 deals from 4,753 deals, while the volume of shares declined by 23.39 per cent to 482.2 million from 629.4 million, with the value of shares transacted by investors reducing by 30.09 per cent to N5.6 billion from N8.0 billion.
The most traded stock yesterday was Union Bank as the banking firm traded 78.2 million units valued at N453.7 million and was trailed by Zenith Bank, which exchanged 52.8 million equities worth N1.4 billion.
Transcorp transacted 31.2 million shares for N31.3 million, UBA sold 26.9 million equities valued at N229.5 million, while Courtville traded 25.8 million stocks worth N5.2 million.
On the price movement table, the quartet of Total Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Lafarge Africa and Dangote Sugar lost N1 each to settle at N142 per share, N180 per unit, N26.65 per share and N20 per unit respectively, while Zenith Bank depreciated by 75 kobo to finish at N26 per share.
On the flip side, the buying pressure on GTBank pushed its share price higher by N3 to N36 per unit, while bargain hunting Northern Nigerian Flour Mills expanded the value of its equities by 77 kobo to N8.65 per share.
Livestock Feeds grew by 9 kobo to settle at N2.39 per unit, while the duo of FTN Cocoa and Jaiz Bank appreciated by 4 kobo each to end at 52 kobo per share and 72 kobo per unit respectively.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its appreciation against the US Dollar by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 17, trading at N1,547.58/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,548.47/$1.
Market analysts expect that the Naira will appreciate in the first quarter of the year, backed by continued policy support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Vestance Nigeria, an agribusiness advisory firm, projects that the exchange rate will trade between N1,650/$1 and N1,750/$1 this year in its Resilience and Recovery for Agribusiness in 2025 outlook report.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue implementing reforms to enhance exchange rate market transparency while maintaining higher interest rates to curb inflationary pressures and attract foreign portfolio management,” it said.
Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N20.84 to wrap the session at N1,883.59/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,904.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N10.45 to settle at N1,590.34/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,600.79/€1.
In the parallel market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 yesterday to sell for N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,675/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was profit-taking amid excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly US government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
Crypto investors expect a change from Mr Trump who promised on the campaign trail to position the US as a leader in the crypto space including creating a national stockpile of Bitcoin, in stark contrast to past years’ regulatory crackdowns and enforcements.
Litecoin (LTC) fell by 9.9 per cent to trade at $124.56, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.2 per cent to $3.10, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.9 per cent to $1.06, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.1 per cent to finish at $3,270.61, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.3 per cent to $698.57 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.3927.
However, Solana (SOL) rose by 8.8 per cent to end at $235.12, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $102,494.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
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