Economy
MTN Nigeria, Lafarge Africa Put NSE on Cloud 9
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was on cloud nine on Tuesday, reversing the losses printed on Monday courtesy the gains posted by MTN Nigeria, Lafarge Africa and some other stocks.
The equity market appreciated yesterday by 1.24 percent as a result of buying interests in these stocks, which had traded at very low prices for a while.
According to data obtained by Business Post from the exchange at the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) jerked up on Tuesday by 255.81 points to 20,925.19 points from 20,669.38 points, while the market capitalisation moved up by N133 billion to N10.905 trillion from N10.772 trillion.
The lockdown in Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State did not stop investors from trading stocks at the market as the local bourse remained very busy, though transactions occurred remotely.
By the time activities were brought to an end yesterday, the volume of shares traded increased by 328.79 percent, while the value of stocks exchanged by market participants rose by 34.93 percent, with the number of deals increasing by 11.07 percent.
It was observed that a total of 1.4 billion stocks worth N5.6 billion exchanged hands in 4,647 deals during the session compared with the 336.4 million equities worth N4.1 billion transacted in 4,184 deals the previous session.
An analysis of the trades showed that Omoluabi Mortgage Bank boosted the trading volume on Tuesday with 1.1 billion units of the company’s stocks worth N605.0 million.
GTBank traded 161.1 million shares for N2.9 billion, FBN Holdings transacted 32.4 million equities worth N140.8 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 28.6 million shares valued at N366.3 million, while UBA traded 20.6 million shares for N110.1 million.
On the price movement chart, MTN Nigeria dominated the gainers’ log. The telco’s stocks appreciated by N2.80 to sell at N94.80 per unit.
Lafarge Africa gained 95 kobo to trade at N10.75 per share, Zenith Bank moved up by 90 kobo to N12.95 per unit, Custodian Investment garnered 50 kobo to trade at N5.75 per unit, while UBA chalked up 45 kobo to quote at N5.45 per share.
Conversely, Ardova was the worst performing stock at the market yesterday. The energy stocks depreciated by N1.35 to settle at N12.45 per share.
Cadbury Nigeria lost 70 kobo to trade at N6.30 per unit, Flour Mills went down by 50 kobo to N21 per share, BUA Cement lost 30 kobo to finish at N31.50 per share, while Axa Mansard crashed by 17 kobo to N1.58 per unit.
A look at the sectoral performance showed that only the banking and industrial goods counters closed in the green territory. While the former appreciated by 3.22 percent, the latter went up by 3.44 percent.
However, the insurance index depreciated by 2.18 percent, the oil/gas sector fell by 0.62 percent, while the consumer goods declined by 0.14 percent.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended the last trading session of the week on a bearish note with a 0.38 per cent loss on Friday.
The decline reported by unlisted stocks was influenced by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.
FrieslandCampina shed 91 Kobo yesterday to close at N80.09 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N81.00 per unit, as CSCS Plc depreciated by 49 Kobo to sell at N14.86 per share, in contrast to the previous day’s N15.35 per share.
The duo overshadowed the gains posted CitiTrust Plc and Afriland Properties Plc, with the former rising by 25 Kobo to N13.50 per share from N13.25 per share, and the latter growing by 7 Kobo to N2.16 per unit from N2.09 per unit.
At the close of trades, the market capitalisation of the bourse decreased by N3.88 billion to N1.025 trillion from N1.029 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) went down by 2.80 points to 741.97 points from 743.84 points.
There was a rise in the volume of securities traded at the bourse yesterday by 1,238.5 per cent to 318.5 million units from the 23.8 million units transacted a day earlier, as the value of shares traded at the session ballooned by 4,146.7 per cent to N1.3 billion from the N31.3 million posted on Thursday, with the number of deals increasing by 300 per cent to 36 deals from the nine deals carried out in the preceding session.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 801.1 million units valued at N1.2 billion, UBN Property Plc was in second place with 365.8 units valued at N309.5 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc was in third place with 91.2 million units worth N6.7 million.
VFD Group Plc ended the session as the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) with 10.3 million units worth N2.3 billion, Geo-Fluids Plc was second with 801.1 million units worth N1.2 billion, and UBN Property Plc was in third place with 365.8 million units valued at N309.5 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The oil market improved by more than 1 per cent on Friday to record its second-straight week of gains, as supplies tightened in some parts of the world and US inflation data indicated price rises were slowing.
Brent futures grew by $1.29 or 1.6 per cent to $79.89 a barrel, as the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) increased by $1.30 or 1.8 per cent to $75.67 a barrel.
Data on Friday showed the US Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.3 per cent in February on a monthly basis compared with a 0.6 per cent rise in January.
On a 12-month basis, core PCE increased 4.6 per cent, a slight deceleration from the level in January. Including food and energy, headline PCE rose 0.3 per cent monthly and 5 per cent annually, compared with 0.6 per cent and 5.3 per cent in January.
The softer-than-expected data came with monthly energy prices in the world’s largest economy decreasing by 0.4 per cent while food prices went up by 0.2 per cent, with goods prices climbing 0.2 per cent and services increasing 0.3 per cent.
In other data from the report, personal income rose 0.3 per cent, slightly above the 0.2 per cent estimate. Consumer spending climbed 0.2 per cent, compared with the 0.3 per cent estimate.
This points to the fact that inflation and supported oil prices could point to less aggressive interest rate hikes from the US central bank, lifting investor demand for risk assets like oil.
Oil prices were also buoyed after producers shut in or reduced output at several oilfields in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq following a halt to the northern export pipeline.
Since Saturday, Iraq has been forced to halt around 450,000 barrels per day of crude exports, or half a per cent of global oil supply, from the Kurdistan region (KRI) through a pipeline that runs from its northern Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
Turkey stopped pumping Iraqi crude from the pipeline after Iraq won an arbitration case in which it said Turkey had violated a joint agreement by allowing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to export oil to Ceyhan without Iraq’s consent.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) led by Russia are likely to stick to their existing output deal at a meeting on Monday.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) will likely stick to its existing deal to cut oil output at a meeting on Monday, April 3.
According to Reuters, this was said disclosed by five delegates from the producer group after oil prices recovered following a drop to 15-month lows due to banking fears and demand worries.
Brent crude has recovered towards $80 a barrel after falling to near $70 on March 20 as fears ease about a global banking crisis and as a halt in exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region curbs supplies.
OPEC+ is due to hold a virtual meeting of its ministerial monitoring panel, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, on Monday.
The consensus was that Kurdistan curbs and recent price drops were not sufficiently important to affect the overall OPEC+ policy path for 2023.
Kurdistan’s crude oil exports – around 400,000 barrels per day shipped through an Iraqi-Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan and then on tankers to the international markets – were halted late last week by the federal government of Iraq.
Last week, the International Chamber of Commerce ruled in favour of Iraq against Turkey in a dispute over crude flows from Kurdistan. Iraq had argued that Turkey shouldn’t allow Kurdish oil exports via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline and Ceyhan without approval from the federal government of Iraq.
Talks between officials from Kurdistan and from the Iraq federal government have failed in recent days, but they are set to continue next week.
Three other OPEC+ delegates also told Reuters that any policy changes were unlikely on Monday. After those talks, the next full OPEC+ meeting is not until June.
Last November, OPEC+ reduced its output target by 2 million barrels per day – the largest cut since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The same reduction applies for the whole of 2023.
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, has said OPEC+ will stick to the reduced target until the end of the year.
