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Economy

Stock Market Bleeds as CBN Cancels MPC Meeting, Investors Lose N65b

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local bourse bear market

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) opened for the new week on Monday on a negative note.

The stock market, which reversed a downward trend last Friday, resumed bearish today after pointing south by 0.40 percent, shrinking the year-to-date return to 17.44 percent.

The loss occurred as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) failed to hold its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting for the year today as a result of lack of quorum.

Like in America, where the Senate failed to pass the country’s spending bill, leading to a government shutdown since last Friday, the Nigerian Senate has failed to confirm nominees of the committee sent to the upper parliament last year by President Muhammadu Buhari as a result of an impasse with the executive.

This made it impossible for the MPC meeting to hold today as earlier planned. However, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced today that the rates, as announced at its last meeting in November 2017, would be retained.

At the close of transactions on the floor of the Nigerian bourse on Monday, the All-Share Index (ASI), which stood at 45,092.83 points on Friday, depreciated by 180.30 points on Monday to settle at 44,912.53 points.

Also, the market capitalisation, which was N16.155 trillion at the last trading session, decreased by N64.6 billion to finish at N16.090 trillion when the market closed for the day.

Business Post reports that the Conglomerates sector led the activity chart on Monday with 3.9 billion shares worth N9.4 billion transacted by investors, while the Financial Services industry followed with 523.2 million equities valued at N5.2 billion exchanged.

At the close of business, the total volume of equities exchanged by investors increased by 231.25 percent from 1.3 billion to 4.4 billion.

Also, the total value of stocks transacted rose marginally by 84.57 percent from N8.6 billion last Friday to N15.9 billion today.

Transcorp continued today as the most traded equity in terms of volume on the local bourse, selling 3.9 billion shares worth N9.3 billion.

Diamond Bank followed after trading 85.8 million shares valued at N297.9 million, and FCMB, which transacted 76.7 million equities for N267 million.

Fidelity Bank sold 69 million shares for N266 million, while FBN Holdings exchanged 57.7 million shares valued at N785.7 million.

The market breadth closed at equilibrium on Monday with 26 price gainers and losers. The total number of equities that traded flat today were 43.

Nestle led the price losers’ chart today after depreciating by N30 to settle at N1470 per share, and was followed by Unilever, which went down by N2.80k to close at N44.20k per share.

Forte Oil declined by N1.78k to finish at N50 per share, GTBank lost N1.20k to close at N53.51k per share, while UAC of Nigeria crashed by 39k to end at N17.10k per share.

On the flip side, Beta Glass topped the gainers’ table after adding N2.82k to its share value to close at N59.38k per share.

PZ Cussons rose by N1.10k to finish at N23.10k per share, and International Breweries grew by N1 to end at N64 per share.

Furthermore, Cadbury advanced by 93k to close at N15.99k per share, while Nigerian Breweries increased by 81k to settle at N143 per share.

Modupe Gbadeyanka is a fast-rising journalist with Business Post Nigeria. Her passion for journalism is amazing. She is willing to learn more with a view to becoming one of the best pen-pushers in Nigeria. Her role models are the duo of CNN's Richard Quest and Christiane Amanpour.

Economy

Xenergi in Talks to Acquire 51% Stake in Premier Paints

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Premier Paints Plc1

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

One of the paint makers in Nigeria, Premier Paints Plc, is currently in talks with a new investor, Xenergi Limited, for the purchase of 51 per cent stake in the company.

Xenergi Limited intends to acquire shares of Clover Global Resources Limited and TGHL Capital Limited in the organisation.

Business Post gathered that the new investor will buy 39.02 per cent from Clover Global Resources Limited and 15.20 per cent from TGHL Capital Limited.

The deal, according to a regulatory notice issued on Tuesday on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, will involve about 63 million shares of Premier Paints.

At the current share price of the paint producer, this should be about N630 million as it closed at N10.00 per unit on NGX on December 16, 2025.

“Subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close before January 31, 2026.

“The company will continue to inform the public of the progress of the transaction,” the disclosure signed by the company secretary, Alozie Nwokoro, said.

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Economy

Naira Trades Flat Across FX Market Windows as CBN Moves to Ease Pressure

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Naira-Denominated Assets

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira was flat against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Tuesday, December 16, retaining the previous closing value of N1,451.82/$1.

In the same vein, the local currency saw no movement against the Pound Sterling and the Euro in the spot market during the session at N1,943.98/£1 and N1,705.74/€1, respectively.

Also, the Nigerian Naira remained unchanged in the black market yesterday at N1,475/$1 and was N1,460/$1 at the GTBank forex counter.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has strengthened US Dollar supply with $250 million to authorised dealer banks at the official window cumulatively as foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporate supply dripped.

The spread between official and other non-regulated markets decreased to N30.59$/1 from N44.57/$1, from the previous week, research subsidiary of Coronation Merchant Bank Limited said in a report.

FX analysts said foreign exchange inflows through the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market decreased to $716.3 million from $844.70 million in the previous week , a 15 per cent drop in a week.

Foreign portfolio investors accounted for the highest share of inflows at 32.98 per cent, followed by exporters at 30.84 per cent, the CBN (17.36 per cent), Non-bank Corporates (16.94 per cent), others (0.72 per cent) and Individuals (0.63 per cent).

On Monday, Nigeria’s headline inflation rate eased to 14.45 per cent in November 2025, down from 16.05 per cent recorded in October, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), representing a decrease of 1.6 percentage points month-on-month and marks a significant moderation compared to the same period last year.

As for the cryptocurrency market, there was some recoveries after overall capitalization falling below $3 trillion for the third time in a month. Large-cap assets, particularly those with Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) exposure, are experiencing selling pressure as institutional investors reassess risk.

Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 1.5 per cent to $1.92, Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 1.5 per cent to $78.91, Dogecoin (DOGE) rose by 0.8 per cent to $0.1308, Solana (SOL) went up by 0.4 per cent to $127.60, Binance Coin (BNB) grew by 0.3 per cent to $865.40, and Bitcoin (BTC) gained 0.2 per cent to sell at $86,735.17.

On the flip side, Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 1.0 per cent to $0.3802 and Ethereum (ETH) slumped by 0.4 per cent to $2,935.85, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were flat at $1.00 each.

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Economy

Stock Investors’ Portfolios Swell N14bn as Index Rises 0.01%

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stock investors' portfolios

By Dipo Olowookere

A marginal 0.01 per cent rise was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday. This was different from the flattish mode of the market the previous day.

Investor sentiment remained bullish as Customs Street finished with 31 price gainers and 26 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.

Aluminium Extrusion topped the gainers’ log after it improved its price by 10.00 per cent to N9.35, Guinness Nigeria appreciated by 9.98 per cent to N263.40, Multiverse expanded by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, MeCure Industries also soared by 9.95 per cent to N45.85, and Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.89 per cent to N4.11.

Conversely, Haldane McCall led the losers’ chart after it shed 9.93 per cent to settle at N3.72, Veritas Kapital lost 9.09 per cent to close at N1.60, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank also declined by 9.09 per cent to N3.50, and Linkage Assurance depreciated by 5.71 per cent to N1.65.

During the trading day, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 21.23 points to 149,459.11 points from the previous day’s 149,437.88 points and the market capitalisation increased by N14 billion to N95.281 trillion from N95.267 trillion.

Yesterday, traders transacted 1.0 billion equities for N21.8 billion in 23,701 deals compared with the 553.1 million equities valued at N13.3 billion traded in 28,907 deals on Monday, representing a decline in the number of deals by 18.01 per cent, and a surge in the trading volume and value by 80.80 per cent and 63.91 per cent apiece.

Access Holdings traded 385.8 million stocks worth N7.7 billion, Champion Breweries transacted 111.8 million shares valued at N817.8 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 85.5 million equities for N589.9 million, FCMB sold 74.7 million shares valued at N791.5 million, and First Holdco transacted 51.9 million equities worth N1.8 billion.

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