Economy
NSE: Investors Lose N150b as Buhari Declares 2019 Re-election Bid
By Dipo Olowookere
Investors trading in Nigerian stocks lost N149.7 billion on Monday as President Muhammadu Buhari declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2019 presidential election.
Mr Buhari had left many guessing if he would eventually throw his hat into the ring, but today, he put that into rest, announcing that he would want to remain in Aso Rock till 2023, when he would be expected to leave if he is finally elected by Nigerians in March 2019.
However, investors in the Nigerian capital market received this news with mixed feelings and by the time market activities were brought to an end on Monday, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) depreciated by 1.01 percent, shrinking the year-to-date returns to 5.72 percent.
The All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 411.96 points to settle at 40,429.18 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N149.7 billion to close at N14.604 trillion.
Business Post reports that the market fell on Monday mainly as a result of price depreciation recorded by stocks in the banking, industrial goods and consumer goods sectors, which investors offloaded from their portfolios.
Today, Lafarge Africa Plc released its 2017 earnings, which fell short of what investors were expecting, especially with a N35 billion loss the cement maker declared.
In addition, investors were not happy with the cash dividend of N1.50k proposed by the board of Lafarge and they consequently punished the stock by offloading it.
At the end of the day, the market recorded 31 price losers and 17 price gainers, leaving the market breadth to close negative.
Unilever was the biggest price loser at the stock market today, going down by N4.80k to settle at N55 per share.
It was followed by Lafarge, which lost N3.20k of its share value to finish at N41 per share, and Dangote Cement, which fell by N2.90k to close at N252 per share.
Guinness Nigeria went down by N1 to end at N103 per share, while Dangote Flour decreased by 65k to settle at N13.15k per share.
On the flip side, GlaxoSmithKline emerged the biggest price gainer, going up by N1 to close at N30 per share.
It was trailed by CCNN, which appreciated by 20k to settle at N18 per share, and Champion Breweries, which also improved by 20k to close at N2.48k per share.
Axa Mansard grew by 12k to end at N2.52k per share, while Fidson also increased by 12k to settle at N5.80k per share.
Business Post’s Dipo Olowookere reports that the volume transactions recorded today decreased by 42.82 percent, while the value went down by 15.37 percent.
A total of 287 million shares were sold at the market on Monday in 4,285 deals worth N4.9 billion in contrast to the 502 million equities exchanged last Friday in 6,108 deals valued at N5.9 billion.
Trading was dominated by banking stocks with FBN Holdings emerging investors’ toast after selling 30 million units worth N359 million.
It was followed by Skye Bank, which traded 23 million shares valued at N15 million, and FCMB, which exchanged 23 million shares for N53.9 million.
Zenith Bank traded 22.5 million units valued at N606.9 million, while Nigerian Breweries sold 20.6 million worth N2.6 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Wednesday, August 5, as the market witnessed weaker trading activity with only two deals executed.
In the midweek session, the volume of securities exchanged by investors dropped 99.9 per cent to 802 units from the 1.6 million units recorded on Tuesday. The value of securities further decreased by 99.6 per cent to N208,240 from the preceding session’s N47.6 million, and the number of deals significantly went down by 93.9 per cent to two deals from the 33 deals recorded a day earlier.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.9 million units transacted for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
There were no price gainers or losers yesterday.
As a result, the market capitalisation stood unmoving at N2.739 trillion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 4,563.96 points.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira slid against the US Dollar by N2.28 or 0.17 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Wednesday, August 5, to N1,363.85/$1 from N1,362.55/$1.
The local currency also declined against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N5.97 to close at N1,837.38/£1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,831.41/£1, and against the Euro, it crashed by N6.54 to quote at N1,575.25/€1 versus the preceding session’s N1,568.71/€1.
But at the black market, the Nigerian Naira traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N1,400/$1, and also remained unchanged at the GTBank FX desk at N1,373/$1.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says rates have narrowed to below two per cent, while the country’s external reserves have risen above $52.5 billion, reflecting the impact of its ongoing monetary and foreign exchange reforms.
CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, represented by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali, disclosed this on Tuesday during the CBN Fair in Gombe. He noted that reforms introduced since 2023 had significantly reduced the disparity between the official FX market and the parallel market.
“The Naira continues to strengthen, with the spread between official and Bureau de Change rates now below two per cent,” he said, adding that reserves at $52.5 billion were supported by sustained inflows and renewed investor confidence in the economy.
Interbank FX transactions slid as weaker market activities dropped total Dollar volume exchanged to $75.35 million, a 51.8 per cent decline from $156.23 million in turnover quoted at the previous close.
The deals at the NFEM window also fell as data from the central bank put Wednesday’s quote at 82 from 139.
In the cryptocurrency market, major were down as global risk sentiment softened as a key world equity index slipped and chipmakers fell.
The MSCI All Country World Index snapped a five-day run to fall 0.2 per cent as chipmakers retreated on both sides of the Pacific. South Korea’s Kospi, a bellwether for the AI trade, dropped 4.4 per cent.
Ripple (XRP) depleted by 1.7 per cent to $1.05, Binance Coin (BNB) decreased by 1.0 per cent to $594.87, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1884, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.2 per cent to $0.3261, Solana (SOL) crumbled by 0.1 per cent to $74.00, and Dogecoin (DOGE) went down by 0.1 per cent to $0.0697.
On the flip side, Ethereum (ETH) gained 2.3 per cent to trade at $1,911.41, and Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 0.8 per cent to $64,759.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock exchange rebounded by 0.05 per cent on Wednesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting by investors, though the level of activity waned.
After bleeding for a few days, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited heaved a sigh of relief yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 109.41 points to close at 244,912.24 points compared with the previous day’s 244,802.83 points, and the market capitalisation garnered N71 billion to settle at N158.087 trillion versus Tuesday’s N158.016 trillion.
Business Post reports that despite the rebound recorded by Customs Street at midweek, the market breadth index remained negative, as there were 20 price advancers and 29 price decliners, implying bearish investor sentiment.
Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N1.77, AVA Capital rose by 9.55 per cent to N10.90, Fortis Global Insurance advanced by 7.69 per cent to N2.80, McNichols gained 7.34 per cent to finish at N5.85, and Coronation Insurance surged by 5.51 per cent to N2.49.
Conversely, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 9.94 per cent to N16.30, PZ Cussons gave up 9.94 per cent to trade at N74.75, Zichis crashed by 9.74 per cent to N20.76, Learn Africa slipped by 9.62 per cent to N9.40, and Neimeth tumbled by 8.33 per cent to N8.25.
The busiest equity was FCMB, with a turnover of 369.2 million units valued at N4.1 billion. Chams transacted 46.7 million units worth N201.8 million, First Holdco transacted 43.5 million units for N5.7 billion, Access Holdings sold 29.8 million units worth N778.0 million, and Linkage Assurance exchanged 19.6 million units valued at N33.5 million.
At the close of transactions, market participants bought and sold 824.1 million units worth N25.5 billion in 48,114 deals, in contrast to the 1.6 billion units sold for N28.7 billion in 54,160 deals a day earlier, showing a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 48.49 per cent, 11.15 per cent, and 11.16 per cent, respectively.
