NASD OTC Market Closes Flat Monday on Waning Trade

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil slumped by more than 2 per cent on Friday as traders showed scepticism about the depth of supply cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) as well as concerns about sluggish global manufacturing activity. Brent crude went down by $1.98 or 2.45 per cent to close at $78.88 a barrel as the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped $1.89 or 2.49 per cent to sell for $74.07 a barrel. For the week, Brent posted a decline of about 2.1 per cent, while WTI lost more than 1.9 per cent.

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has revealed that a $1 billion facility would be used to provide insurance to more than 40 million farmers across the continent against severe impacts of climate change. Initially unveiled at the Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi in September, the Africa Climate Risk Insurance Facility for Adaptation (ACRIFA) brings together governments, development agencies, the insurance sector and the private sector, said the president of the bank, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, while speaking during a side event at COP28 in Dubai. He said ACRIFA aims to mobilise $1 billion of concessionary financing,

By Dipo Olowookere Profit-taking activities brought back the bears to the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday as investors rebalanced their portfolios. It was observed that traders at Customs Street booked profits in shares mostly in the industrial goods sectors like BUA Cement and Lafarge Africa. This resultantly brought down the local stock market by 0.66 per cent at the close of transactions, with the industrial goods space losing 4.21 per cent, the insurance counter declining by 0.28 per cent, and the energy sector falling by 0.01 per cent. However, the consumer goods index improved yesterday by

By Dipo Olowookere The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has disclosed that it is seeking an approval to make it mandatory for any unclaimed dividends up to 12 years to be transferred into the Nigerian Capital Market Development Fund. But before this is done, the SEC has called for comments and input on the matter from stakeholders, which should be forwarded to the Secretariat, Rules Committee of the Commission, via, [email protected] or through the DG, SEC, not later than two (2) weeks from the date of publication. It said, “Pursuant to the provisions of Section 313(1)(n) of the Investments and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka No fewer than 72 technicians graduated from class of 2016 of the Samsung Engineering Academy in Lagos recently. They join the 257 graduates who have passed through the institution over the last five years, and who are expected to deepen the pool of well-trained technicians in the country. With over 170 million people and a high rate of population growth, the World Bank estimates that Nigeria needs to create an additional 40 to 50 million jobs between now and 2030 – a compelling reason for both the public and private sectors within the country to sit up

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Friday, with stocks likely to regain ground after moving sharply lower over the two previous sessions. Bargain hunting may contribute to early strength on Wall Street after the major averages tumbled to multi-month closing lows on Thursday. A positive reaction to earnings news from financial giants JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC) may also generate buying interest. The upward momentum on Wall Street also comes on the heels of a rebound by the overseas markets, which moved higher as strong Chinese trade

By Investors Hub European stocks are turning in a lackluster performance on Tuesday, as earnings proved to be a mixed bag and the British parliament rejected a plan by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to organize a snap election, adding an additional layer of uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook. While the French CAC 40 Index has inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index is just below the unchanged line and the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent. The British pound has edged lower against the dollar as Johnson makes another attempt today to get lawmakers to

By Adedapo Adesanya National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the number of Distribution Companies (DisCos) customers in Nigeria in Q1 and Q2 of 2022 stood at 10.63 million and 10.81 million, respectively. This is according to the Nigeria Electricity Report for Q1 and Q2 2022 released by the NBS on Tuesday. The report focused on energy bills, revenue generated and customers by DISCOS under the reviewed period. According to the report, the total number of customers for the period under review indicates a rise of 1.67 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The report said on a year-on-year basis, the

By Kester Kenn Klomegah The African Development Bank (AfDB), which sets its primary tasks of contributing to the continent’s economic and social development by providing the necessary concessional funding for projects and programmes, as well as offering and coordinating assistance in capacity-building activities, has now embarked on various post-COVID-19 initiatives throughout the continent, especially in the least developed African countries. In the latest was the mid-March event where potential investors have examined more than $50 billion of curated bankable projects in key priority sectors identified in the Africa Investment Forum’s 2020 Unified Response to COVID-19 initiative. The sectors include agriculture

By Adedapo Adesanya The bullish momentum at the oil market lately was sustained on Thursday and this was buoyed by the Brexit trade deal between the European Union and the United Kingdom. On the Christmas eve, the price of the Brent crude rose by 9 cents or 0.18 per cent to sell at $51.29 per barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) appreciated by 11 cents or 0.23 per cent to trade at $48.23 per barrel. It was observed that the news of the Brexit trade agreement was received well by the market because there had been fears that both

By John Paul Recently, I embarked on a journey to Ugbamaka lgah, the ancestral home of senator Attai Aidoko representing Kogi East in the senate. Whirling the community without a glance on potential pay-off for producing a Senator of the federal republic, I resorted for interrogation and a retired police officer has this to say: “This is not river, but a stream. The only stream sustaining our community and the neighborhood and it’s about four Kilometers away. Aidoko is far from our challenges because he only comes here in the night and disappear before dawn since he became a Senator.