Economy
Prices of Oil, Foodstuffs Escalate as Border Closure Bites Harder
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s inflation rose to 11.98 percent in December 2019, driven by increases recorded in food prices as a result of the border closure. Not too long ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released a report on selected food price watch for the month.
From the report, Business Post gathered that rice, one of the major commodities consumed in the country, which was once of the reasons for the closure of the land borders due to smuggling into Nigeria, recorded a 3.2 percent increase in price from N445 (per kg) in November 2019 to N460 in December, while it saw a 24.1 percent increase year-on-year.
It was stated that the locally produced variant equally recorded an increase of 0.84 percent month-on-month to N382/kg from N379/kg recorded in the previous month, while there was 20 percent rise year-on-year.
Titus frozen fish, according to the stats office, increased in the period under review by 0.6 percent to N981 per kilo, which showed a year-on-year increase of 5.9 percent. Also, mackerel fish went up by 0.2 percent to N953 per kg, while year-on-year, prices rose 2.0 percent.
For tomato, there was an increase by 5.1 percent to N264 per kg in December compared to N251/kg in November 2019, while on a year-to-year basis, it went down by 2.8 percent.
At the dairy session, with the country’s restriction on frozen birds from neighbouring countries, the price of frozen chicken dropped by 0.64 percent in the month of December to N1996 per kg, despite a 22.8 percent year-on-year increase. Chicken feet recorded a 1.80 percent rise to N699 per kg on average while it saw a 5.3 decrease in price in the same period of 2018. The price of chicken wings also rose by 2.5 percent in December to N916 per kg, while on a year-on-year, it dropped by 3.0 percent.
The average price of one dozen of Agric eggs medium size decreased month-on month by 1.32 percent to N457.80 in December 2019 from N463.91 in November and year-on-year by 1.96 percent, while the average price of piece of Agric eggs medium size (price of one) decreased year-on-year by 4.37 percent and month-on-month by 1.13 percent to N40.72 in December 2019 from N41.18 in November 2019.
Brown beans dropped 2.5 percent month-on-month to N299 per kilo and on year-on-year basis, it decreased by 23 percent in price, while white beans dropped by 1.1 percent to N281 per kg and 18.3 percent year-on-year.
The price of beef – with bones rose in the month of December by 1.91 percent to N1,046, and by 4.8 percent year-on-year, while the boneless variety dropped by 0.04 percent in December to N1293 per kg, but recorded a 1.71 percent increase year-on-year.
For the price of white gaari at the market, it dropped by 0.41 percent in December to average of N159 per kg, which is a 4.4 percent year-on-year decrease, while on the other hand, the yellow gaari increased by 1.1 percent to N183 per kg in December, but dropped 6.5 percent year-on-year.
Yam recorded a 1.8 percent rise to average N207 per kilo month-on-month in December 2019 and 2.7 percent year-on-year.
The price of groundnut oil rose by 0.07 percent month-on-month in December to N580 for a litre, while it dropped 0.87 percent year-on-year. Also, the price of vegetable oil rose by 0.7 percent in December to N516 per litre and increased by 1.67 percent year-on-year. For the price of palm oil, it increased by 0.5 percent month-on-month to N469, but decreased by 1.1 percent year-on-year.
Economy
NGX All-Share Index Jumps 0.17%
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
Economy
NASD OTC Exchange Gains 0.26%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
Economy
Naira Rallies by 0.06% to N,1547/$1 at NAFEM
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira extended its appreciation against the US Dollar by 0.06 per cent or N89 Kobo on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 17, trading at N1,547.58/$1 compared with the previous day’s value of N1,548.47/$1.
Market analysts expect that the Naira will appreciate in the first quarter of the year, backed by continued policy support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Vestance Nigeria, an agribusiness advisory firm, projects that the exchange rate will trade between N1,650/$1 and N1,750/$1 this year in its Resilience and Recovery for Agribusiness in 2025 outlook report.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will continue implementing reforms to enhance exchange rate market transparency while maintaining higher interest rates to curb inflationary pressures and attract foreign portfolio management,” it said.
Also, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N20.84 to wrap the session at N1,883.59/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,904.43/£1 and against the Euro, the Nigerian currency gained N10.45 to settle at N1,590.34/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,600.79/€1.
In the parallel market, the domestic currency appreciated against the greenback by N5 yesterday to sell for N1,675/$1 compared with the N1,675/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
As for the cryptocurrency market, there was profit-taking amid excitement for a new era of crypto-friendly US government mounts ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.
Crypto investors expect a change from Mr Trump who promised on the campaign trail to position the US as a leader in the crypto space including creating a national stockpile of Bitcoin, in stark contrast to past years’ regulatory crackdowns and enforcements.
Litecoin (LTC) fell by 9.9 per cent to trade at $124.56, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 6.2 per cent to $3.10, Cardano (ADA) dipped by 4.9 per cent to $1.06, Ethereum (ETH) dropped 3.1 per cent to finish at $3,270.61, Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 2.3 per cent to $698.57 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 2.2 per cent to $0.3927.
However, Solana (SOL) rose by 8.8 per cent to end at $235.12, Bitcoin (BTC) expanded by 0.8 per cent to $102,494.03, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
-
Feature/OPED5 years ago
Davos was Different this year
-
Travel/Tourism8 years ago
Lagos Seals Western Lodge Hotel In Ikorodu
-
Showbiz2 years ago
Estranged Lover Releases Videos of Empress Njamah Bathing
-
Banking7 years ago
Sort Codes of GTBank Branches in Nigeria
-
Economy2 years ago
Subsidy Removal: CNG at N130 Per Litre Cheaper Than Petrol—IPMAN
-
Banking2 years ago
First Bank Announces Planned Downtime
-
Sports2 years ago
Highest Paid Nigerian Footballer – How Much Do Nigerian Footballers Earn
-
Technology4 years ago
How To Link Your MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile Lines to NIN