Nigerian Stock Market Loses N416b in One Week amid Political Anxiety

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 Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.18 per cent gain to open the week in positive territory on Monday, December 4, with the unlisted security index rising by 1.59 points to end the day at 862.40 points compared with last Friday’s closing value of 860.81 points. The improvement recorded by the bourse yesterday raised the value of the unlisted stock exchange by N2.5 billion to close at N1.169 trillion, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1.166 trillion. The gain posted by the bourse was driven by the N13.70 added to the share price of 11

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira started the first trading session in the last month of 2023 on a negative note after it depreciated against the Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), which is the official FX window, by 11.4 per cent or N94.87 on Friday, December 1, closing at N927.19/$1, in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N832.32/$1. The December rush for forex contributed to the weakening of the domestic currency in the spot market yesterday, as the supply of foreign currency could not meet what customers needed. Data showed that the value of FX transactions recorded

By Aduragbemi Omiyale An application and proprietary solution for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, known as Aleph Express, has been launched by Aleph Group. A statement from the firm explained that Aleph Express provides a platform for MSMEs to create and maintain a free e-commerce website, create a product catalogue, set local delivery options, manage, record and process orders while gaining meaningful insights to drive growth. The platform also provides one unified inbox that integrates WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, to enable businesses to efficiently engage and sell – all in one place. In addition, Aleph Express provides

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) finished on Wednesday in the upward trend as bulls continued hold on the market for the second straight day. Business Post reports that the market breadth also closed positive today with 27 stocks appreciating compared with 19 stocks that depreciated, while the year-to-date return inched up to 5.25 percent. Furthermore, the market capitalisation rose by N67 billion to end at N9.779 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 193.13 points to finish at 28,286.43 points. At the close of trading activities on the floor of the

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks likely to add to the gains posted last week. Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to strength in the overseas markets, as traders shrug off recent concerns about a global trade war. Traders may also continue to react positively to last Friday?s Labor Department report showing stronger than expected job growth in the month of June. A light day on the U.S. economic front may keep trading activity somewhat subdued, however, with traders look ahead to the release of reports

By Dipo Olowookere A new study has disclosed that housing microfinance can and should become a mainstream offering for financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa as they respond to growing housing needs in the region, particularly from poor people. The study from Habitat for Humanity released on Thursday entitled ‘Building the Business Case for Housing Microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa’ argued that housing microfinance, small non-mortgage backed loans for short terms, can become a mainstream offering in the market to address growing housing needs in the region, incremental building patterns, and the land tenure realities of low-income households. The research builds on

By Adedapo Adesanya The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has threatened to clamp down on farming activities, street trading and illegal motor parks on fringes of the Umar Musa Yar’adua Expressway leading to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport as the country continues to heed warnings about security. The warning was given by the FCT Minister, Mr Muhammad Bello, when he led the management team of the administration, political leaders and some traditional rulers to inspect various developments on the road axis in Abuja. Mr Bello stated that no resident or organisation would be allowed to carry out any illegal activity on

By Adedapo Adesanya With the latest conversation around data privacy and its enforcement, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is set to develop a multi-billion naira data privacy sector which will strengthen job creation among others in 2021. This disclosure was made by the agency’s Director-General, Mr Kashifu Inuwa, on Monday in Abuja at the virtual news conference to open the 2021 National Data Privacy Week. Data Privacy Week is a global event held every last week in January, with this year’s celebration falling between Monday, January 25 and January 28. Mr Inuwa said that boosting the data privacy

By Modupe Gbadeyanka On October 6, 2016, all roads will lead to Oriental Hotel in Lagos for the inaugural Nigeria and Entrepreneurship Summit & Honours (NESH). Leading lights of Nigerian entrepreneurship and the public sector will converge at the place for the heroic occasion. One of the important personalities expected at the ceremony include Grand Patron of NESH, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo (SAN), who is the Vice-President of Nigeria and Chairman, National Economic Council. He will be joined by a roster of other high-level speakers from the corporate, business and government worlds. The theme of the Summit is ‘Celebrating Entrepreneurship.’ Speaking

By Investors Hub European stocks are broadly higher on Monday, with underlying sentiment supported by upbeat U.S. jobs data, easing of political tensions in Italy and Spain and fresh deal-making news. While the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index has climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent. On the data front, Eurozone investor sentiment deteriorated sharply in June, largely reflecting political uncertainties in Italy, survey data from think tank Sentix showed. The investor confidence index slid to 9.3 in June from 19.2 in May. This

By Meristem Research Last week, the Nigerian bourse closed down for the second consecutive week, as the NSE All Share index pared by 0.74 percent, to settle the YtD return at 36.36 percent. The volume traded advanced by 10.28 percent while the market turnover of transactions declined by 3.28 percent. Meristem Research says the bearish mood that dominated the equities space in the past week may linger as investors continue to take profit on stocks still trading at relatively high prices. However, given the level of price declines that dominated the market, there may be trickles of bargain hunting on