Nigeria’s External Reserves Further Gain $18.4m in One Week

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a further rise of 0.55 per cent, extending its stay in the green territory to a fourth straight session on Thursday, November 7. This increased the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 4.81 points to wrap the session at 872.54 points compared with 867.73 points in the previous session, as the market capitalisation of the OTC exchange jumped by N6.52 billion to settle at N1.182 trillion, in contrast to the preceding trading day’s N1.176 trillion. The unlisted securities market ended the trading session with two price gainers, 11 Plc and

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited depreciated by 0.49 per cent on Thursday, driven by selling pressure on banking equities, especially those in the tier-1 category. The likes of GTCO, FBN Holdings, Access Holdings witnessed sell-offs during the trading session, contributing to the weak investor sentiment observed at the Nigerian stock market. According to data obtained by Business Post, the NGX ended with 29 price losers and 24 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index. FBN Holdings ended as the heaviest price decliner after it shed 9.86 per cent to settle at N26.50, Secure Electronic Technology fell

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the Dangote Group, the owners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that following the purchase of 1 million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), it will be looking to ramp up its production in coming months. The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery is not expected to hit full capacity until 2025, but with a gradual ramping, it is expected that it will begin with begin producing up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. “We

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State on Thursday presented the 2017 budget to the state’s House of Assembly. Mr Ahmed, in his speech, noted that he plans to spend N135.26 billion in the 2017 fiscal year. According to him, the 2017 appropriation bill christened ‘Budget of Introspection and Sustenance,’ is anchored on current economic realities and his administration’s determination to look inwards for sustained prosperity and development. The Governor noted that his government intends to fully exploit the economic potentials of the state by tapping into all potential sources of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) through the improvement

By Nneka Okumazie What if after same sex marriage, an individual decided to totally surrender to Christ, should the individual divorce that spouse, go for the opposite sex and marry again? What if a child feels uncomfortable in a gender and decided that a change is needed, should the parents support that change, and if they refused would it drive the child to the brink of something dangerous? What if an adult changes his/her gender, but came to regret it and decided to change it back? What if someone had a tough problem at some point, then decided to use

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais, has denied reports that the National Social Investment Programmes have been hampered by fraud in some states of the federation. In a statement personally signed by her, Mrs Uwais admitted that the scheme has a pocket of frauds in some states, but they were not enough to have marred the progress of the initiative. According to her, some of the challenges being recorded in a few States are being tackled effectively and transparently. She stressed that despite some limited process breaches recorded in some rural communities,

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Last week saw the bears and bulls showing their supremacy on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) but at the end, the market closed 0.19 percent w-o-w despite the bulls claiming three of the five trading days. However, investor sentiment improved with a total of 35 equities appreciating in value compared with the 31 depreciating stocks. Seven stocks have been pencilled down for monitoring this week by analysts at Meristem Research as well as those at United Capital Research. According to those at Meristem Research, Dangote Cement, which presently trades N189, is expected to hit

By Adedapo Adesanya The crude oil market was weakened on Monday by more than 2 per cent amid fresh Omicron fears, causing the Brent to decline by $1.83 or 2.49 per cent to trade at $71.69 per barrel as the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost $2.20 or 3.1 per cent to settle at $68.66 per barrel. Surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Europe and the United States poked investors to worry that new mobility restrictions to combat its spread could hit fuel demand. The United Kingdom said it would not rule out coronavirus restrictions before Christmas after the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) is considering decongesting the overcapacity Lagos sea port by moving some cargoes to the Eastern sea ports this year. This was made known by the General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications at NPA, Mr Adams Jatto, in the Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos on Saturday. According to him, the border closure has made the country record massive activities as more cargoes came into the Nigeria by sea and this has led to more congestion in the Lagos ports. He added that the authority was still making more efforts to ensure that it copes

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc has announced that shareholders of the firm will begin to receive payment of the proposed N3 per share cash dividend from Thursday, June 20, 2019. The dividend payment is for the year ended December 31, 2018 and would be paid only to shareholders whose names appear in the register of members at the close of business on Monday, May 13, 2019. In a notice on Tuesday, Okomu Oil said the register of shareholders would be closed from Tuesday, May 14 to Friday, May 17, 2019. The company therefore urged shareholders who are

By Dipo Olowookere The raising of the monetary policy rate (MPR) by 50 basis points to 18.00 per cent by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday did not deter the Nigerian stock market from closing in the green territory. Business Post reports that the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited rebounded by 0.03 per cent yesterday on the back of fresh bargain-hunting in financial and industrial goods equities. The energy sector remained flat during the session, as the consumer goods counter lost 0.12 per cent, while the insurance, banking and industrial goods sectors appreciated by 1.30 per cent, 0.36 per