Economy

Nigerian Stock Exchange Survives Early Scare to Close 0.87% Higher

Published

5 years ago

08/05/2020

By Dipo Olowookere

What looked like the first loss in nine consecutive sessions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was averted on Thursday after stocks in the consumer goods and industrial goods sectors took control of the market from their banking counterpart.

Earlier in the day, the market was walking “through the valley of the shadow of death,” no thanks to banking equities, which was experiencing selloffs from investors.

However, buying interests in Dangote Cement, Nestle Nigeria and others boosted the NSE’s immunity against loss by 0.87 percent.

The last time the exchange ‘tasted defeat’ was on April 23, 2020, when it closed lower by 1.36 percent.

At the close of transactions on Thursday, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 210.88 points to settle at 24,354.25 points, while the market capitalisation went up by N110 billion to N12.692 trillion from N12.582 trillion.

Business Post reports that apart from the banking index, which closed lower by 1.98 percent, other sectors closed higher.

The consumer goods space gained 2.37 percent, the industrial goods sector appreciated by 1.96 percent, the insurance counter improved by 0.93 percent, while the energy sector gained 0.57 percent.

It was observed that the market breadth closed positive yesterday with 21 price advancers and 20 price decliners.

Nestle Nigeria was the best performing stock, gaining N25 to settle at N1000 per unit, while Dangote Cement trailed for adding N6.20 to its share value to sell at N150 each.

Nigerian Breweries appreciated by N1.90 to trade at N34.90 per share, Conoil improved by N1.70 to quote at N19.10 per share, while Ardova maintained its bull run by rising by N1.35 to sell at N15.30 per unit.

Conversely, Guinness Nigeria closed as the worst performing equity, losing 65 kobo to sell at N18.30 per share.

Zenith Bank lost 60 kobo yesterday to trade at N15.20 per share, GTBank fell by 45 kobo to quote at N22.50 per unit, Lafarge Africa depreciated by 25 kobo to trade at N10.90 per share, while FBN Holdings deflated by 20 kobo to N4.70 per share.

A total of 431.6 million equities worth N5.3 billion exchanged hands in 5,860 deals on Thursday compared with the 426.6 million stocks valued at N4.1 billion transacted in 7,384 deals on Wednesday.

This indicated that while the volume and value of transactions went up by 1.16 percent and 28.24 percent respectively, the number of deals went down by 20.64 percent.

FBN Holdings was the most attractive to investors, selling 115.6 million units worth N543.1 million, while Zenith Bank traded 75.9 million equities valued at N1.1 billion.

In addition, GTBank exchanged 54.9 million stocks for N1.2 billion, Ecobank transacted 39.6 million shares for N197.3 million, while Mutual Benefits Assurance sold 31.0 million stocks valued at N6.4 million.

Economy

NASD OTC Bourse Declines Further by 0.16%

Published

5 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

5 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

6 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.