Economy
NSE Jumps 0.31% as Trading Volume Rises 755% on Champion Breweries
By Dipo Olowookere
There was a significant rise, about 755 per cent, in the trading volume of the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday.
This was buoyed by the sale of Champion Breweries during the session, trading 1.9 billion units of its shares valued at N5.0 billion.
UBA exchanged 26.5 million stocks for N228.5 million, Dangote Sugar transacted 21.5 million equities worth N397.9 million, Fidelity Bank traded 15.7 million stocks valued at N39.8 million, while Access Bank exchanged 13.3 million shares worth N117.1 million.
At the close of transactions, the number of shares transacted by market participants grew by 754.95 per cent to 2.1 billion units from 249.5 million units, the trading value increased by 243.81 per cent to N7.5 billion from N2.2 billion, while the number of deals dropped 25.16 per cent to 4,558 deals from 6,090 deals.
Yesterday, the stock market appreciated by 0.31 per cent, causing the All-Share Index (ASI) to rise by 125.70 points to 40,590.85 points from 40,465.15 points and moved the market capitalisation higher by N66 billion to N21.224 trillion from N21.158 trillion.
The growth was influenced by the gains recorded in three of the major sectors of the exchange. The oil/gas counter grew during the day by 5.65 per cent, the consumer goods sector appreciated by 0.75 per cent, while the banking space rose by 0.53 per cent.
Business Post reports that the insurance index went down marginally by 0.02 per cent, while the industrial goods industry closed flat.
The market breadth closed positive on Thursday as a result of the 27 price gainers and 14 price losers, with Seplat emerging the best-performing stock, gaining N41 to settle at N451 per unit.
Nigerian Breweries appreciated by N2 to sell for N58 per share, Ardova rose by N1.35 to finish at N14.90 per unit, Dangote Sugar improved by 70 kobo to close at N19 per share, while GTBank gained 50 kobo to sell for N33 per unit.
On the flip side, Unilever Nigeria closed as the worst-performing equity, losing 90 kobo to sell at N13 per share and was trailed by Guinness Nigeria, which lost 75 kobo to settle at N17.65 per unit.
Flour Mills depreciated by 30 kobo to end at N26.70 per share, Fidson went down by 20 kobo to trade at N4.50 per unit, while NAHCO fell by 10 kobo to close at N2.20 per share.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Presco Plc has concluded plans to establish operations in Ogun State as part of efforts to expand its footprint, boost earnings, and deliver more value to shareholders.
The news of the operations was announced by the Governor of Ogun State, Mr Dapo Abiodun, after he received a delegation from the company.
Presco is one of the leading integrated oil palm firms in Nigeria. It is listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The Governor expressed his joy over the decision of Presco to situate its factory in the Gateway State.
He disclosed that the organisation has promised to have an initial investment of about $100 million in Ogun State, noting that this “validates the confidence investors continue to place in our administration’s deliberate policies aimed at creating an enabling business environment.”
According to him, beyond strengthening the state government’s agricultural transformation agenda, the project is expected to generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs, enhance food security, stimulate economic growth, and increase the state’s revenue.
“As we continue to implement our Building Our Future Together agenda, we remain committed to attracting strategic investments that will diversify our economy, create sustainable opportunities for our people, and reinforce Ogun State’s position as Nigeria’s preferred investment destination,” Mr Abiodun stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc led two others to evict the bears from the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Wednesday, July 8.
According to data, the unlisted securities exchange rebounded by 6.84 per cent during the session, thanks to the gains recorded by FrieslandCampina, Food Concepts Plc, and Geo-Fluids Plc.
During the trading day, FrieslandCampina recouped N12.57 to trade at N151.98 per unit versus Tuesday’s closing price of N139.41 per unit, Food Concepts Plc improved by 25 Kobo to N2.76 per share from N2.51 per share, and Geo-Fluids Plc expanded by 18 Kobo to N2.55 per unit from N2.37 per unit.
As a result of these accumulations, the market capitalisation added N163.34 billion to close at N2.551 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N2.387 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) increased by 272.13 points to 4,250.20 points from 3,978.07 points.
The midweek trading data showed that the volume of securities dipped by 50.9 per cent to 158,933 units from 323,780 units, and the value of securities slipped by 31.9 per cent to N10.9 million from the preceding session’s N15.9 million, while the number of deals increased by 6.9 per cent to 31 deals from the previous session’s 29 deals.
When trading activities on the platform ended for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for 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 70.7 million units transacted for N4.9 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units exchanged for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was a bad day for the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Wednesday, July 8, as its value further slipped against the United States Dollar.
In the black market window, it lost N5 against the US Dollar during the session to trade at N1,400/$1 compared with Tuesday’s closing rate of N1,395/$1, but closed flat at the GTBank forex counter at N1,381/$1.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), the domestic currency depreciated against the greenback yesterday by N3.32 or 0.24 per cent to N1,379.07/$1, in contrast to the previous day’s N1,375.75/$1.
But the Naira appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market at midweek by 93 Kobo to 1,840.64/£1 from N1,841.57/£1, and gained N1.31 on the Euro to sell at N1,561.38/€1 compared with Tuesday’s N1,562.69/€1.
The market was liquidity-heavy, but increased demand for foreign payments dragged the exchange rate at the official window,
Traders reported that interbank FX turnover spiked by about 399 per cent on the day to $208.094 million, from $41.736 million the previous day. Also, the number of deals in the interbank market increased sharply to 150 from 47 deals.
FX analysts maintained positive expectations on the Naira outlook in the second half of 2026 despite the absence of interventions from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to support liquidity.
As for the cryptocurrency market, prices rose as Bitcoin (BTC) held above $62,000, chalking up 0.3 per cent to sell at $$62,754.96, after the US military completed another round of strikes against Iran and both sides raised the prospect of closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The escalation reignited inflation concerns and pulled forward rate expectations. Markets are increasingly treating war-related shocks as interest-rate events, with BTC now tracking front-end Treasury yields more closely than traditional hedges like crude or gold.
Dogecoin (DOGE) improved its value by 1.2 per cent to $0.0728, Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 1.1 per cent to $573.56, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 0.9 per cent to $1.09, TRON (TRX) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $0.3309, Solana (SOL) grew by 0.2 per cent to $78.34 and Ethereum (ETH) jumped by 0.1 per cent to $1,751.22.
However, Cardano (ADA) decreased by 0.1 per cent to $0.1690, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.
