Economy
Nigerian Stocks Lose 0.34% in First Post-Christmas Trading Session
By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session after the Christmas holidays at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Wednesday as a result of profit-taking in Dangote Cement, FBN Holdings, UBA, Nestle Nigeria, Oando and others.
The selling pressure on 21 equities weakened Nigerian stocks by 0.34 per cent at the close of trading activities yesterday amid a very bullish investor sentiment.
Business Post reports that the bourse finished the trading session with 40 appreciating shares, indicating a positive market breadth index.
However, the main performance indicators, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated in the midweek trading day by 254.63 points to 73,768.64 points from 74,023.27 points, as the market capitalisation went down by N140 billion to N40.367 trillion from the preceding session’s N40.507 trillion.
The last trading session before yesterday was last Friday and some traders, who had overshot their spending budget, may have liquidated their equities during the session, resulting in the loss.
Analysis of the trading data showed that the industrial goods sector fell by 1.10 per cent, and the consumer goods index declined by 0.15 per cent.
However, the insurance space witnessed buying pressure to close higher by 3.06 per cent, the energy counter grew by 0.24 per cent and the banking sector appreciated by 0.17 per cent.
The heaviest price decline was suffered by UAC Nigeria, going down by 10.00 per cent to N13.50, and Deap Capital shrank by 7.25 per cent to 64 Kobo. Caverton contracted by 6.59 per cent to N1.70, Royal Exchange lost 6.25 per cent to settle at 60 Kobo, and Tantalizers crumbled by 6.12 per cent to 46 Kobo.
After chalking up 10.00 per cent, Eterna ended as the biggest price gainer to close at N13.20, AXA Mansard rose by 9.96 per cent to N5.19, Multiverse expanded by 9.95 per cent to N15.36, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank grew by 9.93 per cent to N4.98, and Industrial and Medical Gases soared by 9.85 per cent to N11.15.
During the trading session, investors traded 432.9 million shares valued at N12.9 billion in 8,901 deals versus the 423.3 million shares worth N16.6 billion traded last Friday in 6,333 deals, indicating a decline in the trading value by 22.29 per cent, an increase in the trading volume and the number of deals by 2.27 per cent and 40.55 per cent apiece.
Jaiz Bank was the most active stock on Wednesday, selling 35.4 million units for N58.7 million, followed by Transcorp, which transacted 31.1 million units for N279.1 million. Unity Bank exchanged 25.1 million units valued at N40.5 million, GTCO traded 20.5 million units worth N819.3 million, and United Capital transacted 18.8 million units valued at N466.5 million.
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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