Oil Prices Down as US Debt Ceiling Crisis Continues

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange improved by 0.12 per cent on Wednesday, September 20, with the unlisted securities index expanding by 1.00 points to end the day at 806.29 points as against the 805.29 points it recorded at the previous session. During the trading day, the market capitalisation of the alternative stock exchange increased by N1.42 billion to close at N1.139 trillion compared with Tuesday’s closing value of N1.138 trillion. It was observed that the bulls overcame the bears on Wednesday, with the bourse closing with three price gainers and two price losers. Aradel Holdings Plc

By Dipo Olowookere The regulator of the stock market in Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Regulation Limited (RegCo), has announced its intention to change rules guiding free-float for companies listed on the NGX Limited. In a notice obtained by Business Post, the organisation further said it wants to amend the cross-border listing rules and develop guidelines for migrating listed securities from one board of the bourse to another. At the moment, the exchange does not have rules regulating the migration of listed securities from one board to another, prompting the regulator to “address this lacuna and to foster NGX’s commitment

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices settled lower on Thursday even after Russia announced a ban on fuel exports, with Brent crude down by 23 cents to $93.30 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 3 cents to sell at $89.63 per barrel. Russia temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect to stabilize the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday. It said the ban did not apply to fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements to Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union members, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited extended its rally for the second trading session on Wednesday, closing 1.05 per cent higher on the back of bargain hunting by investors. The listing of BUA Foods on the exchange spurred buying interest, which, in turn, kept the bulls at the bourse for another day as the investor sentiment was better than the preceding session. Data showed that a total of 22 stocks ended on the gainers’ chart, while 17 equities were on the losers’ log at the close of transactions for the day. The duo of BUA Foods and Airtel

By Modupe Gbadeyanka The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday put the total of number of unemployed persons in Nigeria as at the third quarter of 2018 at 20.9 million. In its Labour Force Statistics report released yesterday, the stats office disclosed that this figure rose to the present level from 17.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2017, with the unemployment rate increasing from 18.8 percent in Q3 2017 to 23.1 percent in Q3 2018. According to the NBS data, of the 20.9 million persons classified as unemployed as at Q3 2018, a total of 11.1 million did

By Kester Kenn Klomegah Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that trade between Russia and Africa would grow further as more and more African partners continued to show interest in having Russians in the economic sectors in Africa. “Our African partners are interested in Russian business working more actively there. This provides greater competition between the companies from Western countries, China, and Russia. With competition for developing mineral resources in Africa, it is easier and cheaper for our African colleagues to choose partners,” he told the staff and students at Moscow State Institute of International Affairs early September. Soviet

A total of 12 rugby players have been selected by Nigeria to prosecute the picking of a spot in the Summer Olympics Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2020. Coach of the nation’s Rugby Men’s Sevens, Mr Bronson Weir, said the squad would be on duty at the 2019 Rugby Africa Men’s Sevens Tournament in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they will compete with other nations from the continent. The tournament is slated for November 8 and 9, 2019 at the Bosman Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa. A total of 14 teams will compete, including Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal,

By Adedapo Adesanya  The oil market fell about 4 per cent on Thursday as a bigger-than-expected Bank of England rate hike prompted worries about the global economy and fuel demand. This suppressed the Brent futures by $2.98 or 3.9 per cent to $74.14 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down by $3.02 or 4.2 per cent, at $69.51 per barrel. The benchmarks erased gains from the previous session, during which US corn and soybean prices raced to multi-month highs, raising expectations that crop shortfalls could lower biofuel blending and increase oil demand. This raised

**Trims NPL Ratio to 5.62% By Dipo Olowookere The management of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has expressed its desire to make efforts to reduce its cost of funds by realigning its funding mix. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the lender, Mr Ugo Nwaghodoh, made this disclosure while commenting of the bank’s mid-year financial statements released at the weekend to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). “I am particularly delighted that the key ratios are trending in the right direction. The net interest margin is trending upwards and will continue to improve as we responsibly grow the risk asset portfolio

By Dipo Olowookere The national scale ratings assigned to Union Bank of Nigeria Plc of BBB+(NG) and A2(NG) in the long and short term respectively have been affirmed by Global Credit Ratings. Also, the firm announced last Thursday that the ratings are with stable outlook and that they remain valid until June 2018. Commenting on the ratings, Global Credit Ratings disclosed that the rating took into consideration the lender’s successful capital raising exercise of N49.7 billion through a Rights Issue, which was concluded in December 2017, with 120 percent subscription. While the bank’s capital adequacy ratio had declined to 13.3

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Muhammadu Sanusi II, has called on African governments to eradicate constitutional provisions and structures that increase the cost of governance at national and sub-national levels. In his address at the 2018 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group in Busan, South Korea, the economist, who is also the Emir of Kano, further urged African leaders to manage demographic growth, and revamp and harmonize moribund and ineffective customs and excise duties that promote cross-border smuggling and revenue losses to governments. According to him, Africa’s development agenda