Investors in Malawi Buy $37.5m Airtel Africa Shares via IPO

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices moderated in choppy trade on Monday as Russia relaxed its fuel ban amid a widening demand worry. Brent crude futures lost 2 cents during the session to trade at $93.29 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude depreciated by 35 cents to close at $89.68 per barrel. Last week, prices were down after a hawkish Federal Reserve rattled global financial markets and raised concerns that interest rates could stay higher for longer affecting oil demand. This snapped a three-week rally of more than 10 per cent after Saudi Arabia and Russia constrained

By Precious Olisa This news may not be palatable to developers and Nigerians planning to start a building project, as the Cement Producers Association of Nigeria has warned that the price of a 50kg bag of cement may start selling for N9,000 when the dry season begins in November. At the moment, the product is sold at over N5,000. In a statement jointly signed on Sunday by the National Chairman of the group, Mr David Iweta, and its National Secretary, Mr Ufomba, the manufacturers said the rise in the price of cement would be caused by the decision of the

By Adedapo Adesanya Ultrasonic sensing technology company, Fluenta, has completed work on the Dangote Refinery in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil refinery, installing 18 ultrasonic flare gas meters on large pipelines around the plant. This company is using its technology to aid Nigeria’s flare gas reduction efforts and with Dangote Refinery set to begin operations soon, according to its management recently, this could be a step to fix inaccurate measurements of gas flaring. Nigeria currently imports refined petroleum products for its use, even though it is Africa’s biggest oil producer and with Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train refinery capable of

By Emmanuel Otori The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector is estimated to have over 40 million small businesses in Nigeria and contributes over 50 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with respect to job creation and national development. Despite the scale at which the industry is contributing to the growth and development of the economy, especially as the population of Nigeria continues to increase exponentially, there are some gaps that need to be filled and they are; Lack of Structure Most MSMEs fail in their first few years of starting out because they lack structures such

By Dipo Olowookere As part of concerted efforts to grow local content in the Oil and Gas Industry, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Niger Dock Plc have promised to work together in the areas of engineering, procurement and construction to boost the nation’s economy. The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru made this pledge while on a working tour of the Niger Dock facility at the Snake Island Integrated Free Trade Zone in Lagos on Tuesday. Dr Baru stated that his visit is part of NNPC’s unflinching commitment to support the development of local content

By Dipo Olowookere Those who trade Nigerian stocks gained N22 billion on Monday despite the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited witnessing low trades. The market appreciated by 0.10 per cent on the first trading session of the new week on the back of bargain hunting by investors, who cherry-picked equities that could yield gains in the coming days, weeks and months. As a result of the buying interest, 21 shares ended on the gainers’ chart while 11 shares finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth and investor sentiment. Neimeth recorded the biggest price appreciation with 9.82 per cent

By Dipo Olowookere The treasury bills market ended the week on a bearish note yesterday in the absence of any OMO auction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). For some weeks now, the apex bank had embarked on an aggressive sale of treasury bills at the secondary market to soak excess liquidity from the financial system. At the market on Friday, a tighter system liquidity pressured yields on the NTB curve, with yields rising higher by 0.09 percent on the average across the NTB curve. According to Zedcrest Research, in the coming week, the CBN will likely resume its

By Adedapo Adesanya Electricity Generation Companies (GenCos), which make use of both gas-fired and hydro-stations, have lamented that couldn’t generate an expected 3,347.5 megawatts of electricity on Wednesday due to unavailability of gas. This led to the estimated N1.9 billion lost by the power sector players on Wednesday due to insufficient gas supply, inadequate distribution and transmission infrastructure. An energy report by the Advisory Power Team attached to the Office of the Vice President, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, disclosed that 220 megawatts of electricity was not generated due to unavailability of transmission infrastructure during the period, adding that 400.4 megawatts was

By Dipo Olowookere The absence of an OMO auction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) left the secondary treasury bills market further slightly bearish on Friday. During the trading session, the average yields appreciated by 0.46 percent as system liquidity was significantly compressed by debits for the retail forex intervention by the CBN. It was observed that at the market yesterday, there were continued selloffs on the shorter tenured maturities. According to Zedcrest Research, “We expect yields to remain pressured in the coming week, as the CBN is expected to maintain its spate of OMO and FX interventions in

By Dipo Olowookere The gains posted by the nation’s stock market on Monday, which gave some investors a heave of sigh, did not last long as the equity market returned to where it was coming from on Tuesday. The Nigerian stock market seems to have been very comfortable with the bears as transactions went down by 0.16 percent yesterday after rising by 0.09 percent in the previous session. This reduced the All-Share Index (ASI) at the session by 43.79 points to 26,513.65 points from 26,557.44 points and the market capitalisation by N21.3 billion to N12.907 trillion from N12.928 trillion. Dominating

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The chief executive of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, Mr Temi Popoola, has listed what Nigeria and investors stand to gain from the derivatives market. Speaking at the sixth edition of the exchange’s Market Data Workshop held on Wednesday, November 3, 2021, the capital market expert said one of the benefits of financial derivatives is the deepening of the capital market, which will, in turn, boost the nation’s economy. “The innovation of financial derivatives in Nigeria and trading them through the organized Exchange will play a pivotal role in contributing to economic development by making risk manageable,