Economy
Nigerian Stocks Regain Freedom After 7-Day Hostage, up 0.20%
By Dipo Olowookere
After being in the den of the bears for the past seven trading sessions, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has heaved a sigh of relief again.
At Friday’s trading session, the local stock market finished in the green territory, appreciating by 0.20 percent at the close of transactions. This shrank the year-to-date loss to 11.17 percent from 11.35 percent on Thursday.
Business Post reports that the gains achieved today were influenced by the huge purchase of stocks in the oil and gas, banking and consumer goods sectors.
While the banking index rose by 0.60 percent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.44 percent, with the oil and gas index improving by 0.75 percent.
However, the insurance sector lost 0.31 percent, while the industrial index depreciated by 1.45 percent.
At the close of business today, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 55.01 points or 0.20 percent to settle at 27,919.50 points against 27,864.49 points of the previous session.
Also, the market capitalisation increased by N27 billion to finish at N13.607 trillion in contrast to N13.580 it ended the previous day.
Forte Oil led the gainers’ chart, which had 13 other counters at Friday’s market day on the NSE, adding N1.80k to its share price to finish at N20.15k per share.
MTN Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries added N1 each to their share value to settle at N128 and N59 respectively, while Flour Mills and Access Bank both gained 40 kobo each to close at N14.40k and N6.40k respectively.
At the other side, CCNN dominated the losers table comprising 21 equities in total, going down today by N1.05k to settle at N12 per unit and was followed by Stanbic IBTC, which fell by 50 kobo to close at N38 per unit.
Fidson depreciated by 45 kobo to end at N4.10k per share, UAC Nigeria declined by 40 kobo to finish at N5.40k per unit, while PZ Cussons decreased by 20 kobo to close at N5.80k per share.
Business Post observed that the volume of transactions by investors increased today by 56.37 percent to 274.2 million from 175.4 million yesterday, while the value of the total trades rose by 4.78 percent to N2.8 billion from N2.7 billion.
These trades were dominated by financial stocks, which recorded a total of 210.2 million units sold for N1.9 billion. It was closely trailed by ICT stocks with a turnover of 21.6 million shares exchanged for N169 million.
A further breakdown showed that UBA topped the activity log with a turnover of 45.3 million shares traded for N249.6 million, with Access Bank following with 42.8 million equities worth N259.5 million.
FBN Holdings transacted 41.9 million shares valued at N238.6 million, GTBank exchanged 26.6 million units for N777.8 million, while Courtville traded 20.2 million equities worth N4.1 million.
Investors would be hoping for the market to sustain this bullish position recorded today next Monday, when the activities resume on the trading floor of the NSE.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
