Economy
Lagos International Trade Fair Begins November 5
By Adedapo Adesanya
The 2021 edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF) will kick off on Friday, November 5 and end on Sunday, November 14 at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).
This was disclosed at a press conference by the Chairman, Trade Promotion Board of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Gabriel Idahosa, on Wednesday in Lagos.
The annual trade fair organized by the LCCI is the biggest trade fair in Nigeria and in the West and Central Africa sub-regions of the African continent.
This year’s fair, which is the 35th edition since inception, has the theme Connecting Businesses, Creating Value and according to the organisers, over 200,000 visitors are expected at the fair while about 1,500 exhibitors from 16 countries with an exhibition space of 28,000 square metres will be at the TBS over the 10-day period.
He said that African businessmen and women would be hosted at the Africa Hall of the TBS to promote intra-African trade.
“The objective of the hall is to bring exhibitors from all African countries under the same umbrella to showcase their goods, services, arts, crafts, regulatory services and particularly to promote Intra-Africa trade.
“We believe that Africans must grow trade and investment among themselves to give full activation to the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA).
“In further pursuit of this objective, we will have the Africa Special Day at the Fair this year and investment and trade promotion agencies of some African countries have shown interest in this,” he said.
Mr Idahosa revealed that the LCCI’s marketing and customer care officials would be mobilised to the TBS to start attending to exhibitors and partners who may wish to start preparations at the venue.
“This does not stop them from attending to exhibitors in the Commerce House in Victoria Island or visiting the exhibitors in their offices as they may desire,” he said.
He listed some of the premium partners at the 2021 LITF to include the Bank of Industry (BoI), TGI DISTRI; a health and safety partner, FEDAN Investment Limited, Lifemate furniture, among others.
Mr Idahosa assured exhibitors of maximum security, uninterrupted power supply, sustained automation of bookings, the availability of the LITF radio, improved exhibition service centre and properly managed traffic management and related logistics.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.
According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.
The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.
The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.
On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.
As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.
In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).
However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1 per cent to $693.30.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.
The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.
The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.
Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.
Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.
The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.
Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Brent neared the $80 price mark on Friday, gaining $2.84 or 3.7 per cent to sell fr $79.76 per barrel as traders braced for supply disruptions from the broadest US sanctions package targeting Russian energy revenue.
President Joe Biden’s administration imposed fresh sanctions on Russian oil producers, tankers, intermediaries, traders, and ports, aiming to affect every stage of Russia’s oil production and distribution chains.
The move is meant to cut Russia’s revenues for continuing the war as the sanctions also include networks that trade petroleum.
According to the US Government, close to 180 vessels, several senior Russian oil executives, dozens of traders and two major oil companies were targeted by the sanctions.
Many of the sanctioned tankers have been used to ship oil to India and China as a price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 has shifted trade in Russian oil from Europe to Asia. Some tankers have shipped both Russian and Iranian oil.
This followed US sanctions in November on banks including Gazprombank, Russia’s largest conduit to the global energy business, and earlier last year on dozens of tankers carrying Russian oil.
Market analysts note that India and China, which have always patronised Russia, will have to find alternatives.
This move just a few days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, making it likely that he will keep the sanctions in place and use them as a negotiating tool for a Ukraine peace treaty.
Oil prices were also buoyed as extreme cold in the US and Europe has lifted demand for heating oil while fire rages on in California affecting supply.
JPMorgan analysts said in a note on Friday that the weather in the US could record a significant year-over-year increase in global oil demand of 1.6 million barrels a day in the first quarter of 2025, primarily boosted by demand for heating oil, kerosene, and Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), by-products of crude oil.
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