By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil increased on Thursday as the US House of Representatives’ passage of a bill to suspend the debt ceiling helped to offset the impact of rising inventories in the country.

Brent jumped by 2.3 per cent or $1.68 to $74.28 per barrel, as the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) expanded by 3 per cent or $2.01  to settle at $70.10 a barrel.

Both benchmarks recovered from two-straight sessions of losses after the House passed a bill late on Wednesday to suspend the US government’s debt ceiling and improve chances of averting a default.

The Republican-controlled House voted 314-117 to send the legislation to the Senate, which must enact the measure and get it to President Joe Biden’s desk before a Monday deadline when the federal government is expected to run out of money to pay its bills.

The legislation temporarily removes – the US federal government’s borrowing limit through January 1, 2025.

The timeline will allow President Biden and Congress to set aside the politically risky issue until after the November 2024 presidential election.

It would also cap some government spending over the next two years, speed up the permitting process for certain energy projects, claw back unused COVID-19 funds and expand work requirements for food aid programs to additional recipients.

With this good as done, the market’s focus has also shifted to a June 4 meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, collectively called OPEC+.

According to Reuters, sources noted that the alliance is unlikely to deepen supply cuts at the Sunday meeting, but some analysts maintained that it is a possibility as demand indicators from China and the US have been disappointing in recent weeks.

Pressure came as US crude oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week, as imports jumped and strategic reserves dropped to their lowest since September 1983.

According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), an inventory build of 4.5 million barrels was reported for the week to May 26.

At 459.7 million barrels, crude oil inventories in the U.S. are around 2 per cent below the five-year average for this time of the year.

The market will also be looking at the next moves by the US Federal Reserve and what it would do concerning its interest rates.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira tumbled against the Dollar in the parallel market on Thursday after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) refuted reports that it had devalued the local currency to N630/$1 in the official market.

The central bank described the news report as fake news, urging members of the public to disregard it as it had not authorised such.

This affected the value of the Nigerian currency on the streets yesterday as it lost N10 against the US Dollar to close at N750/$1 compared with Wednesday’s value of N740/$1.

In the official segment, which is also the Investors and Exporters (I&E), the domestic currency traded flat against the greenback during the session at N464.67/$1 despite the value of foreign exchange (forex) transactions rising by 53.3 per cent or $87.24 million to $250.98 million from $163.74 million.

In the Peer-2-Peer (P2P) segment, the local currency appreciated against its American counterpart by N9 to trade at N755/$1 versus the preceding day’s rate of N764/$1.

The Naira closed flat against the Pound Sterling on Thursday at N574.37/£1 but appreciated against the Euro by N2.31 to close at N493.58/€1 compared with the midweek session’s N495.89/€1.

In the cryptocurrency market, there was a renewed interest as optimism was injected into the assets, with top coins tracked by Business Post performing well.

Bitcoin (BTC) appreciated by 1.3 per cent to $27,201.31, Ethereum (ETH) improved its value by 2.0 per cent to $1,894.80, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 4.1 per cent to trade at $95.39, Ripple (XRP) recorded a 2.3 per cent gain to quote at $0.5193, and Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 2.2 per cent to trade at $0.3733.

Further, Solana (SOL) made a 2.1 per cent rise to sell at $21.12, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped by 1.2 per cent to sell for $308.33, and Dogecoin (DOGE) added 0.6 per cent to sell at $0.0722, while, the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.

By Dipo Olowookere

Oil stocks were the toast of investors at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday on the back of the eventual removal of subsidy on petrol by the government on Wednesday.

On May 31, 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited signalled the end to fuel subsidy when it said petrol would be sold at N488 per litre in Lagos, N500 per litre in other southwest states, and N537 per litre in Abuja at its retail stations instead of the former subsidised rate of N185 per litre.

This development spurred traders to go after oil stocks in the equity market, which closed higher by 0.07 per cent, with the energy index as the highest advancer at the close of business with 2.27 per cent growth.

The insurance counter rose yesterday by 1.11 per cent, the banking sector appreciated by 0.95 per cent, while the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.26 per cent, with the industrial goods sector closing flat.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 38.97 points to 55,808.25 points from 55,769.28 points, while the market capitalisation jumped by N21 billion to N30.388 trillion from N30.367 trillion.

Conoil gained 9.92 per cent to close at N63.70, Sterling Bank rose by 9.76 per cent to N2.25, Eterna expanded by 9.74 per cent to N8.45, Cornerstone Insurance grew by 8.97 per cent to 85 Kobo, and Mutual Benefits went up by 8.33 per cent to 39 Kobo.

FTN Cocoa topped the decliners’ table as it fell by 9.88 per cent to 73 Kobo, Champion Breweries lost 9.62 per cent to trade at N3.76, McNichols depleted by 9.21 per cent to 69 Kobo, Chams went down by 8.16 per cent to 45 Kobo, and Fidson slumped by 6.93 per cent to N9.80.

Business Post reports that, unlike the preceding trading session, investor sentiment was strong yesterday as the market breadth was positive, with 30 price gainers and 20 price losers.

The activity was left in red on Thursday as investors toned down their exposure to equities, monitoring how the government intends to address the proposed unification of the different foreign exchange (FX) market segments.

Data showed that 390.2 million shares valued at N5.7 billion were traded in 7,725 deals during the session compared with the 661.5 million shares worth N19.0 billion traded in 10,024 deals a day earlier, representing a fall in the trading volume, value, and the number of deals by 41.01 per cent, 70.00 per cent, and 22.93 per cent, respectively.

Access Holdings transacted 51.3 million equities valued at N623.8 million, UBA traded 46.1 million stocks worth N453.1 million, FTN Cocoa sold 37.3 million shares for N29.7 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 37.2 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, and GTCO traded 34.4 million equities worth N993.2 million.