Nigeria’s Stock Market Records 0.15% YtD Loss After 0.63% Fall Thursday

By Adedapo Adesanya Foreign trading and investment firm, Risevest, has acquired Chaka, a digital trading platform. According to Techcabal, which first broke the news, the deal, which was for an undisclosed sum, will see both entities operate as different products, though the capitalisation table of the acquiree will be updated in due course. Speaking on this, Mr Tosin Osinbodu, Chaka’s founder, said, “I’m excited about how Chaka’s product will evolve and how we’re going to learn from the Risevest team.” “With booming growth in many nations around the world, investors can now own a stake in the growth of other

By Dipo Olowookere The bears tightened their grip on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday, chopping off 0.34 per cent from the local bourse despite assurances from Mr Yemi Cardoso he would endeavour to ensure the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) restores its independence. Mr Cardoso was confirmed as the new CBN Governor by the Senate yesterday and he promised to formulate evidence-based monetary policies, a departure from his predecessor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who was accused of romancing the President and coming up with trial-and-error policies. Business Post reports that investors were more interested in trimming their exposure to

By Adedapo Adesanya  The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is planning to use oil traders to fund a $3 billion loan to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which is aimed at stabilising the weakening Naira. According to a Reuters report, the Cairo-based bank has made contact with traders to gauge their interest in lending their support to the oil-backed loan to Nigeria’s national oil company. The sources who spoke to the publication also disclosed that Afreximbank has made an attempt to come up with the terms that they will present to trading houses. “There is a lot of interest,

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange weakened by 0.30 per cent on Tuesday, September 26 after Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc witnessed a decline in its closing price. This brought down the value of the unlisted securities market by N3.50 billion to end at N1.146 trillion versus the N1.149 trillion it ended a day earlier, as the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) dropped 2.48 points to end at 810.87 points compared with the previous day’s 813.35 points. The share price of CSCS Plc declined by 70 Kobo yesterday to settle at N17.50 per share, in contrast

By Dipo Olowookere Fresh 1.888 billion ordinary shares of Ellah Lakes have been listed on the trading platform of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The additional shares of the company were admitted on the local bourse yesterday and were created after the firm completed the 100 percent stake in Telluria Limited. With the fresh listing, the total issued and fully paid up shares of Ellah Lakes has now increased from 120 million units to 2 billion units. This has raised the total market value of the company on the stock exchange to N8.520 billion, with the shares traded at N4.26k

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has urged the government to provide adequate infrastructure nationwide to make small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) become viable so that the country reduce its reliance on foreign goods. This advice was given by the association’s president, Mr Ide Udeagbala, in his remarks at the first edition of the Abuja SME Conference and Exhibition on Monday. Mr Udeagbala said provision of the needed infrastructure would restrict massive importation of foreign goods which could be produced locally as well as engender SME global competitiveness, thereby bringing about

**Threatens Ponzi Scheme Operators By Dipo Olowookere The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has said it will now shift its focus on encouraging states of the federation and corporate bodies to issue non-interest investment tools. The Director-General of SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, explained that the reason for this move is to attract capital into the market. Speaking on Thursday at his first Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting as the head of the apex capital market regulatory body, he said the issuance of non-interest debt securities will deepen the market. “We have seen how successful Sovereign Sukuk issues have been, and

By Dipo Olowookere For the third straight day, activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed bearish on Tuesday by 0.03 percent, shrinking the year-to-date return to 0.03 percent. This led to the reduction of the All-Share Index (ASI) by 7.93 points to 27,033.10 points from 27,041.03 points and the decline of the market capitalisation by N4 billion to N14.083 trillion from N14.087 trillion. Business Post reports that the loss printed by the equity market yesterday was influenced by 22 stocks, especially in the insurance and consumer goods sectors, which that their respective counters depreciating by 2.01

By Dipo Olowookere Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, has disclosed that the Federal Government does not have any intention to increase taxes but is working towards increasing its internally generated revenue through the broadening its tax base. Mr Udoma made this disclosure while responding to a comment by Senator Ben Bruce at the public hearing of the Joint Session of the National Assembly on the 2017 Budget. The Minister said “a view has been expressed that we should not increase taxes, that we should broaden tax collection instead, that is precisely what is in the

By Dipo Olowookere Shares of LASACO Assurance Plc appreciated by 6.45 percent this week, closing at 33 kobo per unit on Friday against the 31 kobo per share it traded on Monday. The company had been under suspension until the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) removed it after the insurer adhered to one of the listings rules. Trading in the stocks of LASACO had been suspended by the NSE alongside 10 others on July 2, 2019 for failing to file their financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2018. But days later, the insurance firm released the results, which prompted

By Adedapo Adesanya The first trading session on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed on a negative note on Monday, depreciating by 0.25 per cent at the close of transactions. Nigeria’s OTC Exchange found itself in the bearish zone yesterday after the share price Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc went down by N13 or 6.8 per cent to settle at N190.00 per unit compared with the previous closing price of N203 per unit. As a result, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) decreased by 1.79 points to wrap the session at 700.85 points compared

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A total of N3.27 billion was gained as collective profit after tax (PAT) from securities operations, pension and asset management in 2016 by FSDH Merchant Bank Limited. This was 20.05 percent short of what was achieved in 2015, N4.09 billion. At the pre Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the financial institution in Lagos on Friday, the company said in the year under review, FSDH Group’s total assets stood at N141.3 billion and its shareholders’ funds stood at N27.87 billion. It was said that the profit before tax of the firm depreciated to N3.87 billion in 2016 from