Economy
Nigerian Stocks Down by 0.15% as Market Remains Volatile
By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained weak today as profit-taking activities persist, extending to the second trading session of this week.
Business Post reports that the market remained volatile on Tuesday as investors continue to react to the poor 2017 earnings released by Diamond Bank Plc last week in the absence of any positive news to positively change the mood and override the shocker.
Even news of the possible passage of the 2018 budget this week by the Senate was not enough to cheer investors.
The budget report was finally laid before both the Senate and the House of Representatives today with the estimates increased to N9.12 trillion from N8.61 trillion by the lawmakers.
At the close business on Tuesday, the local went down further by 0.15 percent, reducing the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns to 6.20 percent.
The All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 62.19 points to settle at 40,615.42 points, while the equity capitalisation reduced by N22.5 billion to finish at N14.712 trillion.
A look at the sector performance showed that the NSE Banking Index dropped 1.35 percent as a result of the 9.39 percent loss recorded by Diamond Bank, 5.56 percent loss by Skye Bank and 4 percent loss by Zenith Bank.
However, the NSE Consumer Goods Index appreciated by 1.42 percent due to the buy interest in Nestle Nigeria, which went up by 2.81 percent; and Nigerian Breweries, which increased by 2.30 percent.
Furthermore, the NSE Industrial Index grew today by 0.08 percent mainly due to gains recorded by CAP, which rose by 2.83 percent; while the NSE Oil & Gas Index ended flat.
The Financial Services sector led the activity chart today with 159.9 million shares exchanged for N2.8 billion, while the Consumer Goods followed with 16.8 million shares traded for N1.5 billion.
GTBank emerged the most active stock at the market on Tuesday, trading a total of 37.2 million units worth N1.6 billion.
It was trailed by UBA, which sold 31.5 million shares valued at N361.1 million, and Fidelity Bank, which exchanged 14.5 million equities for N33.8 million.
Zenith Bank transacted 11.7 million shares valued at N330.5 million, while Oando sold 11.1 million equities worth N84.7 million.
In all, a total of 203.4 million shares exchanged hands on Tuesday in 4,090 deals worth N4.4 billion in contrast to the 218.8 million equities traded on Monday in 4,109 deals valued at N2.2 billion.
This showed that the volume of stocks traded at the market today decreased by 7.05 percent, while the value appreciated by 98.47 percent.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was negative with 25 declining stocks against 12 appreciating stocks.
Zenith Bank turned out to be the day’s biggest loser after shedding N1.15k of its share value to settle at N27.60k per share.
It was trailed by FBN Holdings, which went down by 50k to close at N11.50k per share, and Oando, which declined by 35k to finish at N7.40k per share.
GTBank decreased by 30k to end at N44 per share, while Dangote Flour reduced by 25k to close at N11.25k per share.
Conversely, Nestle Nigeria topped the gainers’ chart with N43 added to its share price to close at N1573 per share.
Nigerian Breweries went up by N2.80k to end at N124.80k per share, while CAP gained N1.10k to finish at N40 per share.
Ecobank rose today by 30k to finish at N21 per share, while NPF Microfinance Bank increased by 7k to close at N1.85k per share.
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.
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.
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.
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