Profit Warnings from Bellwether US Firms Drag Asian Shares Down

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices fell on Thursday members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) agreed to voluntary output cuts for the first quarter of next year, falling short of market expectations. As a result, Brent crude futures lost 27 cents or 0.3 per cent to close at $82.83 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures went down by $1.90 or 2.4 per cent to $75.96 a barrel. On a monthly basis, Brent fell by 5.2 per cent while WTI was down by 6.2 per cent. Saudi Arabia, Russia

By Adedapo Adesanya The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) on Thursday asked Nigeria to produce about 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2024, lower than the 1.78 million barrels per day benchmark it proposed in the 2024 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly on Wednesday for passage. The output ceiling was around 1.8 million barrels per day before it was cut down to 1.5 million barrels yesterday at the group’s virtual meeting, a huge blow to Nigeria’s revenue target for the fiscal year. OPEC had tasked three consultancies – IHS, Rystad

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria will accept and work with a production quota of 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2024 as the country aims to grow on the back of its oil resources, following a revision done by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+. According to a statement issued by the Press and Public Relations unit of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Thursday’s meeting of the 23-man group addressed crucial aspects, including the completion of assessments by independent sources (IHS, Wood Mackenzie, and Rystad Energy) on the projected production levels for Angola,

By Adedapo Adesanya A hybrid solar power solutions provider, Daystar Power, has signed an agreement with Nigerian Breweries to install and operate a 4.2MWp solar plant and 2MWh battery storage system that will help the firm reduce its high energy costs. The installation will be one of the largest solar and battery storage projects for an industrial manufacturer in Nigeria. The hybrid solar solution will generate 5,249 MWh of electricity – 42 per cent of its daytime power consumption – every year at Nigerian Breweries’ Lagos brewery. According to a statement, the integration of solar into the factory’s energy mix

By Dipo Olowookere Stock market investors have been advised not to joke with market data if they hope to succeed in the capital market. Speakers at the 2nd edition of the Market Data Workshop organised by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, October 4, 2017 at the Civic Centre, Lagos, noted that adequate knowledge of the market data helps investors in making sound investment decisions. At the event themed ‘Market Data: The Bedrock of Wealth Creation,’ the chief executive of the NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, noted that the NSE Market Data workshop was designed to provide participants with more

By Adedapo Adesanya In the wake of global crises including the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has announced the launch of a $2 billion facility to support bank-driven economic recovery in Africa, and the resilience of African economies. AFC has committed to funding up to 50 per cent of the credit facility and mobilizing the rest through its network of international partners and investors. The facility, dubbed African Economic Resilience will be disbursed via loans from AFC to select commercial banks, regional development banks and central banks in various African countries, providing them

By Dipo Olowookere Transactions on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained weak today as profit-taking activities persist, extending to the second trading session of this week. Business Post reports that the market remained volatile on Tuesday as investors continue to react to the poor 2017 earnings released by Diamond Bank Plc last week in the absence of any positive news to positively change the mood and override the shocker. Even news of the possible passage of the 2018 budget this week by the Senate was not enough to cheer investors. The budget report was finally laid

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Naira was further weakened at the black market on Wednesday as a result scarcity of the United States Dollars at the market. Business Post reports that the local currency was exchanged at the segment of the foreign exchange market yesterday at N366 to a Dollar. The Naira, which was traded at N365 per Dollar on Wednesday morning, jumped to N366 in the afternoon before closing at the same amount at the close of business. Business Post gathered that the Greenback is becoming scarce at the black market because of huge demand for it. Also at

By Adedapo Adesanya The Katsina State Government says it will lift the ban on telecommunication services in the remaining seven affected local government areas (LGAs) before the end of January 2022. The governor of the state, Mr Aminu Masari, disclosed this in Katsina, urging residents to do their best to protect their areas from bandit attacks. Business Post had reported that recently, the state government lifted the ban on telecommunication services in 10 out of the 17 LGAs in the state which hitherto suffered from banditry. He commended the efforts of all security agencies, especially vigilance groups for fighting bandits.

By Dipo Olowookere The gradual rise in the stop rate of the one-year treasury bill continued on Wednesday as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold it at 7.00 per cent to investors. Why rates started to decline A few years ago, the apex bank, as part of efforts to make domestic borrowing cheaper for the government to reduce debt servicing, began a gradual cut in the interest rates. At a point, the financial asset was selling at 20 per cent and this made it very attractive to different classes of investors; retail, institutional and offshore. The CBN observed that

By Dipo Olowookere One of the leading e-commerce companies in Nigeria, Jumia, has announced that from Monday, January 30, 2023, it will no longer accept the old Naira notes as a form of payment for goods purchased on the platform. In a message to its customers on Thursday, the company said this action followed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop the use of the N200, N500, and N1,000 for financial transactions in Nigeria from February 1, 2023. On October 26, 2022, the governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced that the three denominations would

By Adedapo Adesanya Scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries enabling the development of COVID-19 vaccines, the award-giving body said on Monday. The prize, among the most prestigious in the scientific world, is selected by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute Medical University and also comes with 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1 million). “The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19,” the