Economy
NPF Microfinance Bank Gains 50.85% in One Week
By Dipo Olowookere
Stocks of NPF Microfinance Bank Plc appreciated by 50.85 percent last week, closing at N1.78 per unit compared with N1.18 per unit it opened for the week.
The company was one of the 32 equities which appreciated in price during the week, lower than 39 equities in the previous week.
Other price rises in the week were Unilever Nigeria, which rose by 20.95 percent week-on-week to N12.70 per share and May & Baker, which appreciated by 20.93 percent to settle at N3.12 per share. McNichols gained 19.05 percent to close at 50 kobo per unit, while Eterna increased by 18.52 percent to finish at N2.56 per share.
On the flip side, UPDC was the worst performing stock last week, losing 13.04 percent to settle at 80 kobo per unit. The stock was among the 28 equities that depreciated in price, higher than 22 equities in the previous week.
CAP lost 9.83 percent to close at N20.65 per share, Arbico depreciated by 9.73 percent to finish at N2.32 per unit, Custodian Investment fell 9.52 percent to settle at N5.70 per share, while Afromedia declined by 8.82 percent to end at 31 kobo.
Business Post reports that in the week, 103 equities remained unchanged, higher than 102 equities recorded in the preceding week.
Last week, the All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation both depreciated by 0.72 percent week-on-week to close at 23,871.33 points and N12.441 trillion respectively.
All other indices finished lower with the exception of main board, NSE CG, NSE Pension, NSE ASeM, NSE AFR Bank Value, NSE Meri Growth, consumer goods and oil/gas which appreciated by 1.29 percent, 1.52 percent, 0.74 percent, 0.36 percent, 1.65 percent, 4.76 percent, 2.25 percent and 1.56 percent respectively.
A look at the activity chart showed that a total of 926.4 million shares worth N9.8 billion in 20,910 deals were traded in the week by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, in contrast to a total of 1.7 billion shares valued at N18.2 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 28,791 deals.
The financial services industry led the activity chart with 676.1 million shares valued at N5.1 billion traded in 10,753 deals, contributing 72.98 percent and 51.73 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
The conglomerates industry followed with 71.1 million shares worth N399.5 million in 445 deals, while consumer goods sector recorded a turnover of 48.8 million shares valued at N1.6 billion in 3,497 deals.
Trading in FBN Holdings, GTBank and Zenith Bank accounted for 335.1 million shares worth N4.1 billion in 4,885 deals, contributing 36.17 percent and 41.58 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.
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.
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.
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.
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