Economy
News of Trade Deal May Continue to Spur Buying Interest
By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a moderately higher opening on Tuesday, with stocks likely to extend the upward move seen in the previous session.
Continued buying interest may be generated in reaction to news of the preliminary trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico.
President Donald Trump indicated the trade deal with Mexico is intended to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement but suggested Canada could be excluded from the new pact.
The president said negotiations with Canada would begin shortly but argued Canada must negotiate ?fairly? and threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian auto imports if an agreement cannot be reached.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC he remains hopeful a revamped trade deal will get done with Canada but said the U.S. is ready to go forward with the agreement with Mexico.
?I think our objective is to try to get Canada on board quickly,? Mnuchin said on CNBC?s ?Squawk Box? on Tuesday. ?This is a great deal for American workers.?
Stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Monday, adding to the gains posted last week. With the upward move on the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 climbed to new record closing highs and the Dow reached its best closing level in nearly seven months.
The major averages ended the day off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Dow Jumped 259.29 points or 1 percent to 26,049.64, the Nasdaq advanced 71.92 points or 0.9 percent to 8,017.90 and the S&P 500 climbed 22.05 points or 0.8 percent to 2,896.74.
The continued strength on Wall Street came as Trump confirmed reports the U.S. has reached a preliminary trade deal with Mexico.
During a televised conference call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Trump praised the U.S. and Mexican teams that negotiated the agreement, which he argued would be good for both countries.
“It’s a big day for trade, a big day for our country,” Trump said. A lot of people thought we’d never get here because we all negotiate tough. We do, and so does Mexico. And this is a tremendous thing.”
The president said the new deal would be called the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement rather than NAFTA, raising questions about the inclusion of Canada.
“We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA,” Trump said. “It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years.”
Trump indicated the U.S. would soon begin negotiations with Canada but suggested that any agreement could be a separate deal.
“I think we’ll give them a chance to probably have a separate deal,” Trump said of Canada. “We could have a separate deal, or we could put it into this deal.”
Biotechnology stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 2.4 percent. With the jump, the index reached a record closing high.
Optimism about the U.S.-Mexico trade deal also contributed to considerable strength among steel stocks, resulting in a 1.7 percent advance by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.
Significant strength also emerged among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Gold stocks benefited from some further upside by the price of the precious metal.
Semiconductor, financial, and chemical stocks also saw notable strength on the day, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Four securities weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.95 per cent on Friday, erasing N41.17 billion from the bourse, which had its market capitalisation at N2.567 trillion compared with the previous session’s N2.618 trillion.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased at the close of business by 85.28 points to 4,277.07 points from 4,362.32 points.
The price decliners were led by 11 Plc, which gave up N20.50 to sell at N200.50 per share compared with the preceding day’s N221.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc dropped N16.94 to close at N155.20 per unit versus Thursday’s closing price of N172.14 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N2.11 to N84.68 per share from N86.79 per share, and Afriland Properties Plc lost 11 Kobo to end at N16.74 per unit, in contrast to the N16.85 per unit it closed a day earlier.
During the trading day, the value of transactions jumped by 172.1 per cent to N29.9 million from the preceding session’s N10.9 million, and the volume of trades soared by 136.5 per cent to 955,096 units from the previous 403,901 units, while the number of deals went down by 11.4 per cent to 31 deals from 35 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.6 million units sold for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading session of this week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note, with a 0.66 per cent loss on Friday.
This was influenced by sustained selling pressure and cautious trading, which forced investors into profit-taking.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that the energy sector fell by 4.66 per cent, the insurance counter dipped by 2.23 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.96 per cent, and the banking segment shed 0.28 per cent, while the industrial goods space remained unchanged.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of Nigeria’s stock exchange went down by 1,531.81 points to 232,049.02 points from 233,580.83 points, and the market capitalisation dropped N983 billion to settle at N148.905 trillion compared with Thursday’s N149.888 trillion.
Aradel was the worst-performing equity after it lost 10.00 per cent to close at N1,417.50. International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.95 per cent to N5.79, Trans-Nationwide Express depreciated by 9.89 per cent to N3.28, eTranzact crashed by 9.79 per cent to N14.75, and UPDC slumped by 9.72 per cent to N28.12.
The best-performing equity for the day was Universal Insurance, which gained 6.32 per cent to close at N1.01, McNichols grew by 5.52 per cent to N8.60, Linkage Assurance expanded by 4.67 per cent to N1.57, NGX Group appreciated by 4.35 per cent to N120.00, and Transcorp increased by 3.62 per cent to N41.50.
As look at the activity level indicated that investors traded 388.7 million stocks worth N18.4 billion in 44,631 deals compared with the 393.7 million stocks valued at N19.2 billion executed in 45,813 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 1.27 per cent, 4.17 per cent, and 2.58 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a loss of 82 Kobo or 0.06 per cent against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, June 26, exchanging at N1,380.93/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s rate of N1,380.11/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency further weakened against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N6.06 to settle at N1,824.90/£1 versus the preceding session’s N1,818.84/£1, and lost N10.74 on the Euro to sell at N1,577 .58/€1 versus N1,566.84/€1.
At the GTBank forex counter, the Naira depreciated against the greenback during the session by N4 to close at N1,387/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s value of N1,383/$1, and at the parallel market, it was unchanged at N1,395/$1.
Interbank FX activity among financial institutions has fluctuated amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as it allows demand and supply to move the market.
Also, a stronger greenback has generally put significant pressure on emerging-market currencies.
Nigeria has accessed the first tranche of a proposed $5 billion derivatives financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC, the largest lender in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The $5 billion facility, approved by the National Assembly earlier this year, is part of the federal government’s plan to diversify external financing sources and reduce borrowing costs. Structured as a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, proceeds are earmarked for refinancing debt and supporting infrastructure financing.
If the proceeds are brought into the country through the official FX market, the transaction will increase the currency reserves or Dollar liquidity.
At the cryptocurrency market, Solana (SOL) grew by 2.2 per cent to $71.92, Cardano (ADA) gained 1.1 per cent to trade at $0.1474, Ripple (XRP) also appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $1.05, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 0.9 per cent to $0.0755, and Ethereum (ETH) improved by 0.4 per cent to $1,578.84.
On the flip side, TRON (TRX) slid 0.6 per cent to $0.3203, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 0.3 per cent to $564.33, and Bitcoin fell by 0.2 per cent to $60,219.37, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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