Nigerian Stocks Welcome Buhari with N115.9b Loss

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Strong inflationary pressures in November further negatively impacted companies in Nigeria, with new orders and output both falling as customers were either reluctant or unable to pay higher charges. Purchase prices rose at the fastest pace in almost two years amid exchange rate weakness and higher costs for fuel and materials. According to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) from Stanbic IBTC, business conditions remained under pressure, scoring 48.0 points last month compared with the 49.1 points it garnered in October 2023. Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions, while readings below 50.0 show deterioration.

By Adedapo Adesanya  Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Wednesday as investors focused their attention on an upcoming OPEC+ output policy meeting and looked past a jump in crude stockpiles in the United States. Brent crude futures were up by $1.01 or 1.2 per cent to $82.69 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.16 or 1.5 per cent to close at $77.57 a barrel. Prices were lifted by a media report that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, was considering

By Aduragbemi Omiyale President Bola Tinubu has said the 2024 budget presented to the joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday was designed to achieve macroeconomic stability, a better investment environment, greater access to social security, poverty reduction and enhanced human capital development. According to him, if these goals are achieved, the standard of living of Nigerians will improve and the citizens will enjoy the dividends of democracy. While presenting the 2024 Appropriation Bills to the parliament yesterday, the President said this was why he christened the budget proposal as the Budget of Renewed Hope. Mr Tinubu told the

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices fell on Thursday members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) agreed to voluntary output cuts for the first quarter of next year, falling short of market expectations. As a result, Brent crude futures lost 27 cents or 0.3 per cent to close at $82.83 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures went down by $1.90 or 2.4 per cent to $75.96 a barrel. On a monthly basis, Brent fell by 5.2 per cent while WTI was down by 6.2 per cent. Saudi Arabia, Russia

By Dipo Olowookere The ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification earlier obtained in 2015 by the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc has been resecured by the company. This followed the recent audit of its compliance with information security risks controls by the British Standards Institution (BSI), UK, one of the world’s largest accreditation bodies for ISO certifications. The audit involved a series of process validation and assurance check of controls with respect to company and client data management. Managing Director of CSCS, Mr Haruna Jalo-Waziri, described this development as a significant capital market infrastructure and indeed, the Central Securities Depository for the

By Dipo Olowookere Outgoing Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has explained why he made efforts to allow the commercial capital of Nigeria join the Odu’a Investment Limited. The group is the only regional investment group existing in the country at the moment and it comprises the six states in the southwest region of the country; Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo and Osun States. Speaking on Monday, Governor Ambode explained that the desire to see the total economic integration of the south west region propelled his administration to join the group, saying that it would be a win-win situation

By Dipo Olowookere A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), which is the private sector arm of Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group, and Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA Bank). The deal, Business Post learnt, is to finance and foster trade, socio-economic development and regional economic integration across the member countries. The MoU envisages bilateral cooperation between ICD and PTA Bank in order to promote and facilitate the execution of their respective mandates through financing and investments in their common member countries. Mr Khaled

Music is the universal language of love, and in this month of Valentine’s, it’s definitely setting the scene for romance. The relationship between music and love is profound – music has the ability to touch us emotionally, and those who are in love have always expressed their feelings for one another through the lyrics of a song, or a melody when words alone will not suffice. On Valentine’s Day, love is truly all around, inspiring people to take thoughtful actions, like sending gifts, setting up cosy candle-lit dinners, proposing marriage or renewing their relationship vows. One of the most vital

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The sum of $7 billion has been disbursed by the World Bank to Nigeria, the global financial institution has disclosed. The said amount, the World Bank Group explained, was released in form of loans to the Africa’s number one economy. According to TVC News, the World Bank disclosed that the $7 billion was disbursed to Nigeria from 2012 to date. It relied on statistics obtained from the bank’s web portal for this information. The bank said the total loan portfolio is made up of concessional loans from the International Development Association and commercial loans from the International

By Adedapo Adesanya Global food prices continued rising for the second consecutive month in July, led by vegetable oils and dairy products, according to the benchmark United Nations report released on Thursday by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks international prices of the most commonly traded food commodities, averaged 94.2 points in July, a 1.2 per cent increase from June and nearly 1.0 per cent higher than July 2019. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index increased 7.6 per cent since June to reach a five-month high, with international quotations for the key oils

By Dipo Olowookere Lagos State Government has organised a technology literacy programme for artisans and owners of Small and Medium Scale enterprises as a way of optimizing business opportunities that abound locally and internationally. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the programme, Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mr Babatunde Durosimi-Etti, said the state government, in collaboration with Service City and Microsoft, embarked on the training of artisans and owners of SMEs in order to enable them leverage on the use of peculiar technologies to ease their process of doing business. He explained that the government is working to eliminate

By Adedapo Adesanya Equities admitted on the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange could not extend gains into the third day as the market ended in a stalemate on Wednesday. At the end of the day’s trading, the NASD unlisted securities index (NSI) retained its previous rate of 711.96 points recorded at Tuesday’s session, while the market capitalisation stayed at N522.99 billion. However, the midweek session saw a decline in the total volume of trades by 98.8 per cent to 2,500 units of shares from the 204,957 units transacted on Tuesday. This happened as only one single deal was performed at