Economy

Nigerian Stocks Remain in Severe Pain, Further Shed 0.56%

Published

6 years ago

18/07/2019

By Dipo Olowookere

Transactions at the nation’s stock market remained bearish on Wednesday, with profit taking activities by investors weighing on the market.

The local bourse has been in severe pain for some days now, calling for help, which is nowhere in sight. The market is seriously expecting a positive trigger that will take it out of the dungeon.

One of these triggers is the appointment of ministers by President Muhammadu Buhari, which should send a positive signal to investors that the present government was serious about making the economy better. Unfortunately, there are no strong indications that the President will name his cabinet members anytime soon. It is nearly getting to two months after he took oath of office on May 29, 2019.

Yesterday, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further lost 0.56 percent, bringing the year-to-date loss to 10.78 percent.

During the midweek trading session, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down again by 158.08 points to finish at 28,042.80 points, while the market capitalisation depreciated by N77.1 billion to close at N13.667 trillion.

An analysis of the proceedings on Wednesday on the floor of the NSE showed that the market breadth ended negative due to the losses recorded by 26 stocks and the gains printed by 8 counters.

Business Post reports that Nestle Nigeria was the day’s worst performing stock, losing N5 of its share price to settle at N1245 per share.

Julius Berger went down by N1.95k to finish at N18 per unit, while Guinness Nigeria depreciated by N1.50 kobo to end at N46 per share.

Unilever Nigeria declined yesterday by N1 to settle at N32 per share, while Flour Mills depleted by 60 kobo to close at N14 per unit.

At the other side of the coin, UAC Nigeria topped the gainers’ table after appreciating on Wednesday by 10 kobo to finish at N5.90k per share.

It was followed by A.G. Leventis Nigeria, which went up by 3 kobo to settle at 33 kobo per unit, and Chams, which rose by 2 kobo to end at 27 kobo per share.

Courtville and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance both increased their share value by one kobo each to close respectively at 22 kobo and 31 kobo.

Despite the poor performance of the market yesterday, the volume and value of shares transacted by investors improved significantly by 12.24 percent and 116 percent respectively.

While the volume of trades rose from 217.1 million to 243.7 million, the total value increased from N1.8 billion to N3.9 billion.

This was influenced by activities around GTBank yesterday as the company sold a total of 77.5 million units of its stock for N2.3 billion.

FBN Holdings transacted 29.5 million shares worth N163.8 million, while UBA exchanged 13.6 million equities for N76.5 million.

In addition, Zenith Bank traded 13.3 million shares valued at N247.4 million, while ASACO Assurance exchanged 11.3 million units worth N3.9 million.

Economy

NASD OTC Bourse Declines Further by 0.16%

Published

8 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

8 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

9 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.