Economy
Long-term Crude Oil Market Looks Increasingly Bleak
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices were rising Monday morning and some analysts see positive signs for the market in the weeks ahead as higher gasoline demand could stop oil’s recent slide. But in the longer-term, the oil market looks increasingly bleak.
From past years, August is traditionally a strong month for the oil market, because high summer demand usually sops up excess supply. Not this year. Demand has been weak and supply has not fallen enough, despite sanctions against Iran that have taken about 2 million barrels of oil production per day off the market—that’s out of about 100 million barrels of global demand.
According to an analyst, Neil Beveridge, in the first seven months of the year, global oil inventories in OECD countries grew by about 100 million barrels, implying an oversupply of about 0.5 million barrels per day. China has been stockpiling crude and Iran has been holding supply in tankers as the countries deal with sanctions. And demand has been hurt by the U.S.-China trade war and weak economies throughout the world.
On Friday, the International Energy Agency reduced its global oil demand expectations, to 1.1 million barrels per day this year and 1.3 million next year, a reduction of 100,000 and 50,000 barrels, respectively, after “very sluggish” growth in the first half of the year.
Oil may not head straight down, however. in the short-term, prices are likely to stop falling, Beveridge predicts.
“With OPEC exports continuing to decline and peak driving season in full swing, we expect sizeable inventory draws in August which should be price supportive in the near term,” he wrote.
And for the moment, short interest isn’t really a problem either. “Given the asymmetry behind the geopolitical backdrop, few market participants are willing to stomach the risk profile of outright shorting the oil market,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Tran wrote. Shorts are staying away because of the risk that an international incident—like in Iran— could cause prices to spike.
But the long-term outlook for oil bulls is bleak. Supply is expected to far outpace demand in 2020. OPEC, which has already cut production to boost prices, will have to decide whether to cut production further to keep prices from falling more next year.
Currently, supply is expected to grow by 2.2 million barrels per day, while demand could rise at just 1.2 million barrels, Beveridge predicts. And that could end up being optimistic.
“A weaker global economy could result in downside risks to this figure,” Beveridge wrote. “This could lead to substantial inventory builds in 2020 which could push oil back to marginal cash cost.”
On Monday, Brent Crude was trading at $58.53 per barrel, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude was at $54.83, and the Nigerian Crude, Bonny Light was trading at $59.55 per barrel.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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