Economy

NGX Creates Platform for Price Discovery, Liquidity for Investors

Published

4 years ago

23/05/2021

By Dipo Olowookere

One of the best platforms companies can utilise to meet their strategic business objectives is the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, the Divisional Head of Listings Business at NGX Limited, Mr Olumide Bolumole, has said.

According to him, the exchange provides “an avenue for price discovery and liquidity for existing and new investors.”

Mr Bolumole, while speaking at the listing of the N5 billion bond of CardinalStone Partners Limited last Thursday, urged organisations to “take full advantage of our products and services to support their growth story” as it would be beneficial to them.

He described the listing of the notes on the NGX as commendable, noting that the “full subscription of the listing recorded demonstrates investors’ confidence in CardinalStone which now better positions the company to sustain its impressive growth in the coming years.”

Last Thursday, CardinalStone listed its papers on the exchange for secondary trading. The debut 5-year series 1 bond was sold under the company’s N10 billion debt issuance programme.

Business Post reports that at the event, the management of CardinalStone was given the honour to close the market with a digital closing gong ceremony.

“Today is particularly exciting for us at CardinalStone because it represents the attainment of our aspiration to list some of the securities in our capital structure on the exchange.

“We are thankful to NGX for giving us the opportunity to list on its platform; without their support, we would not be here today.

“We would like to assure NGX that we are committed to finding ways to leverage its products and services and drive participation in the capital market from other institutions.

“Of course, we appeal to our colleagues in the industry to take advantage of the opportunity to raise capital on NGX just like we have,” the Group Managing Director of CardinalStone Partners Limited, Mr Michael Nzewi, said at the event.

On his part, the Managing Director of CardinalStone Asset Management, Mr Mohammed Garuba, thanked the “NGX for the opportunity to be here today and must give kudos to NGX for facilitating seamless remote trading over the past year; the impact is clearly seen in capital raising activities on the bourse. I must also congratulate NGX on the recent launch of its campaign, The Stock Africa Is Made Of.

“It is indeed an exciting initiative as it has helped to re-engage key players within the capital market value chain.

“While a lot of focus has been on equities in the past, listing a bond is another way to not only raise capital but also improve governance within an organisation, which was our experience.

“We have learnt from this process, and are willing to support counterparts and clients who wish to embark on this journey,” he added.

Prior to the sounding of the closing gong, the Managing Director of ChapelHill Denham Advisory Limited, which was the lead financial adviser/issuing house for the transaction), Mrs Kemi Awodein, expressed appreciation to capital market players.

“I must thank the team at CardinalStone for giving us ChapelHill Denham the opportunity to have led the issuance of their bond listing.

“When we opened the book in 2020, we could not have envisaged that we would have a book in excess of N6 billion but that was the strength of acceptance of CardinalStone on the buy-side and for that, we must thank all our investors,” she stated.

“I must also thank the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for their support through the process; NGX for the opportunity to commemorate this listing; and all professional parties to this transaction – FBNQuest Merchant Bank Limited; FCMB Capital Markets Limited; FSDH Capital Limited, to name a few,” Mrs Awodein added.

Economy

NASD OTC Bourse Declines Further by 0.16%

Published

2 hours ago

22/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.16 per cent decline on Tuesday, January 21, extending its loss this week to two.

This further depleted the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange by N1.65 billion at the close of transactions to N1.071 trillion from the N1.073 trillion it closed in the preceding session.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slid by 4.79 points to wrap the session at 3,100.33 points compared with 3,105.12 points recorded in the previous session.

The bourse ended with two price losers yesterday led by Geo Fluids Plc, which gave up 32 Kobo to trade at N4.38 per share versus Monday’s closing price of N4.70 per share and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which depreciated by 15 Kobo to close at N39.50 per unit compared with the previous day’s N39.65 per unit.

On the second trading day of the week, the number of deal carried out slightly went up by 8.3 per cent to 13 deals from the 12 deals executed at the previous trading session.

Also, the value of transactions increased by 97.2 per cent to N4.5 million from the N2.5 million recorded a day earlier, while the volume of securities traded in the session declined by 71.6 per cent to 183,780 units from the 767,610 units recorded on Monday.

FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most traded equity by value (year-to-date) with 4.1 million units worth N162.9 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units valued at N44.0 million, and 11 Plc with 55,358 sold for N14.5 million.

Also, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 25.3 million units worth N5.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.1 million units valued at N162.9 million.

Economy

Naira Crashes to N1,552/$1 at NAFEM, N1,670/$1 at Black Market

Published

3 hours ago

22/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Pressure further mounted on the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange market on Tuesday, making its value to shrink against the United States Dollar at the close of business.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the domestic currency crashed against its American counterpart during the session by 0.18 per cent or N2.73 to settle at N1,552.78/$1, in contrast to Monday’s closing price of N1,550.05/1.

But against the Pound Sterling and the Euro, the local currency traded flat in the official market yesterday at N1,906.98/£1 and N1,613.48/€1, respectively.

As for the black market segment, the Naira weakened against the Dollar on Tuesday by N5 to sell for N1,670/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,665/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market heaved a sigh of relief during the session as President Donald Trump created a crypto task force dedicated to “developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets.”

The task force will be led by Commissioner Hester Peirce, a long-time advocate for the crypto industry, and will work closely with the crypto industry to develop regulations. This is after Mr Gary Gensler, an opponent of crypto, officially stepped down as chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Mr Trump’s term started.

The task force will also work with Congress, providing “technical assistance” as it crafts crypto regulations.

Solana (SOL) recorded a 9.2 per cent growth to sell at $257.09, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 7.6 per cent to $0.36789, Ripple (XRP) added 4.0 per cent to finish at $3.18, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 3.7 per cent to $105,515.03.

Further, Binance Coin (BNB) appreciated by 2.8 per cent to close at $699.01, Cardano jumped by 2.1 per cent to trade at $0.9972, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 2.0 per cent to settle at $3,308.21, and Litecoin (LTC) went up by 1.5 per cent to end at $116.72, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.

Economy

Brent Falls Below $80 as US Signals Boost to Oil Output

Published

3 hours ago

22/01/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The price of the Brent crude oil grade went below the $80 mark on Tuesday after it shed 86 cents or 1.1 per cent to trade at $79.29 per barrel after the US President, Mr Donald Trump, signaled the possibility of his country boosting its oil production.

This move raised concerns of higher US output in a market widely expected to be oversupplied this year, with the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures falling by $1.99 or 2.6 per cent during the session to $75.89 per barrel.

On his first day in office, the US President signed an executive order to unleash America’s energy by easing the barriers to oil and gas extraction and production and revoking a series of climate orders by former President Joe Biden.

As pledged in the campaign, the executive order follows the declaration of a national energy emergency.

The declaration includes measures to expedite energy infrastructure delivery, and emergency approvals by agencies “to facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources, including, but not limited to, on Federal lands.”

This will likely confirm expectations that the oil market will be oversupplied this year after weak economic activity and energy transition efforts weighed heavily on demand in top-consuming nations the US and China.

President Trump also said he was considering imposing 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico from February 1, rather than on his first day in office as promised.

The delay helped ease concerns of an immediate tightening of the market among US refiners, many of which are geared to process the type of crude oil supplied by these countries.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reiterated on Tuesday its expectations for oil prices to decline both this year and next.

On its part, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) projects robust demand growth in the world both this year and next.

In 2025, OPEC says demand is set to grow by 1.4 million barrels per day leaving its projection unchanged from the December report.

However, losses were also limited after the US president said his administration would “probably” stop buying oil from Venezuela. The U.S. is the second-biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil after China.

Also weighing on prices on Tuesday was the potential end to the shipping disruption in the Red Sea.

Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday they will limit their attacks on commercial vessels to Israel-linked ships provided the Gaza ceasefire is fully implemented.