Economy
NSE Year-to-Date Loss Shrinks to 0.02% as Market Cap Hits N14trn
By Dipo Olowookere
The year-to-date loss of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) shrank to 0.02 per cent on Wednesday following the 0.83 per cent growth recorded by the market.
This was buoyed by the rising demand for equities, which left stocks of 20 companies on the exchange appreciating in value during the session. Only eight shares closed in the red territory yesterday.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 219.8 points to 26,831.76 points from 26,611.96 points, while the market capitalisation finally hit N14 trillion after gaining N117 billion to settle at N14.025 trillion as against N13.908 trillion it closed the previous day.
Business Post reports that the activity chart was in red at the midweek trading session following the decline in the volume of shares traded, the value and the number of deals by 21.87 per cent, 10.80 per cent and 13.57 per cent respectively.
A total of 322.8 million stocks worth N4.0 billion were traded in 4,046 deals yesterday compared with the 413.1 million equities worth N4.5 billion transacted in 4,681 deals on Tuesday.
The huge trade in the shares of Sterling Bank continued in the session as the lender transacted 83.7 million units valued at N105.4 million.
Access Bank transacted 46.1 million shares worth N308.4 million, Zenith Bank traded 24.9 million equities for N443.4 million, Lafarge Africa traded 18.7 million stocks worth N280.6 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 17.2 million shares for N32.2 million.
Total Nigeria was the biggest price gainer on Wednesday as a result of the N8.80 price appreciation it recorded in the session, closing at N96.80 per share.
Dangote Cement gained N3.90 to trade at N142.90 per unit, MTN Nigeria appreciated by N1.50 to quote at N129 1.50 per unit, GTBank improved by N1 to end at N28.05 per unit, while UAC Nigeria grew by 60 kobo to sell for N6.95 per unit.
The heaviest price loser of the trading day was Nigerian Breweries as its stock price went down by N3.55 to finish at N49 per unit.
PZ Cussons dropped 25 kobo after the sale of its dairy business to Friesland to settle at N4 per unit, Union Bank fell by 15 kobo to trade at N5 per share, Dangote Sugar depreciated by 10 kobo after its listed shares from its merger with Savannah Sugar on the exchange to close at N12.40 per unit, while University Press declined by 9 kobo to quote at N1.24 per share.
Apart from the consumer goods sector, which lost 1.66 per cent on Wednesday, every other sector closed positive with the banking counter gaining 1.93 per cent, the industrial goods space rose by 1.40 per cent, the insurance index appreciated by 0.31 per cent, while the energy sector recorded a marginal growth of 0.05 per cent.
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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