Stock Market Gains 0.20% as Investors Buy United Capital, Others

By Adedapo Adesanya The cryptocurrency market witnessed an uptick on Wednesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) managing to stay above the $26,000 level even as the US Dollar index rose to a new year-to-date high. Data obtained by Business Post showed that the most valued crypto, BTC, posted a 0.7 per cent appreciation during the midweek session to trade at $26,408.37 in the last 24 hours. On the part of the second-most valued digital coin, Ethereum (ETH), it remained in the $1,600 mark and it improved its value yesterday by 1.6 per cent to sell at $1,610.94. At the trading session, the US

By Adedapo Adesanya The oil market retreated on Thursday, as traders took profits after prices soared recently while the space worried that high interest rates may weigh on demand. During the trading session, Brent futures fell by $1.17 or 1.2 per cent to settle at $95.38 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) declined by $1.97 or 2.1 per cent to close at $91.71 per barrel. The market had reached a 10-month high as some traders worried high oil prices would stoke inflation, encouraging the US Federal Reserve and other central banks to persist with rate hikes.

By Adedapo Adesanya The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reaffirmed its support for the removal of fuel subsidy and the exchange rate unification of the administration of President Bola Tinubu, insisting that the policies are good for Nigeria’s economy. A representative of the global lender, Mr Ari Aisen, while featuring on Channels TV on Tuesday, maintained that the two policies must remain for Nigeria to reach macroeconomic stability. “After the position that needs to be well managed to avoid potential reversal, policies of subsidizing fuel, and controlling exchange rate will lead to a much better outlook for the Nigerian economy,”

By Adedapo Adesanya  The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is planning to use oil traders to fund a $3 billion loan to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, which is aimed at stabilising the weakening Naira. According to a Reuters report, the Cairo-based bank has made contact with traders to gauge their interest in lending their support to the oil-backed loan to Nigeria’s national oil company. The sources who spoke to the publication also disclosed that Afreximbank has made an attempt to come up with the terms that they will present to trading houses. “There is a lot of interest,

By Dipo Olowookere As part of its continued efforts of deepening its retail footprint across informal economic sectors of the country, Nigeria’s longest serving indigenous bank and pioneer of Africa’s first fully digital bank ALAT, Wema Bank Plc, has introduced its agent banking services in Bauchi. Agent Bank is a cost-effective medium employed by financial institutions to provide financial access to unbanked, underbanked, and branch-starved communities. It is the provision of basic financial services such as Account Opening, Cash deposit, Cash withdrawal, Funds transfer, Bills payment, Airtime Recharge etc., through 3rd Parties (Agents). To support the ongoing retail push in

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian bourse ended its trading transactions on Tuesday on a negative note as a result of the 0.32 percent depreciation it suffered in the hands of profit takers. The loss recorded yesterday was the second in the week as some investors continue to capitalize on the gains posted by the market in the last three trading sessions of last week to sell off. Their actions consequently reduced the All-Share Index (ASI) on Tuesday by 89.08 points to finish at 27,602.77 points, while the market capitalization went down by N43.3 billion to close at N13.429 trillion. In

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 2.04 per cent expansion on Monday, driven by the positive price movement in the shares of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc. The share price of the milk-producing firm appreciated by N10.90 or 8.9 per cent yesterday to close the session at N132.90 per share in contrast to N122 per share it traded at the previous session. The growth in the stock price of the company boosted the market capitalisation of the bourse by N10.64 billion to close the day at N531.05 billion versus N520.41 billion it ended last Friday. The

By Dipo Olowookere The last trading session of this week ended positive as investors continue to select some equities selling at very low prices at the market. At the close of Thursday’s session, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appreciated by 1.47 percent, shrinking the year-to-date loss to 20.33 percent. The positive performance of the bourse was boosted by stocks in the banking, consumer goods, energy and insurance sectors as their respective performance indicators closed higher by 3.96 percent, 5.03 percent, 1.36 percent and 0.32 percent. Only the industrial goods counter closed bearish by 0.57 percent. Business Post reports that the

By Dipo Olowookere On Thursday, Linkage Assurance and PZ Cussons were the best-performing stocks at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. The two equities were among the 19 price gainers recorded at the trading session, which outweighed the 15 price losers, making the stock market to further rise by 0.10 per cent at the close of transactions. Business Post reports that during the trading day, Linkage Assurance appreciated by 9.09 per cent to 60 kobo, with PZ Cussons growing by 7.14 per cent to N6.00. Also, Chams improved by 5.00 per cent to 21 kobo, May & Baker gained 5.00 per

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries, Norfund, has described Nigeria as Norway’s most important market in Africa, noting that efforts are being made to increase investments in the giant of the continent. Nigeria is one of the biggest economies in Africa and has the largest market because of its population of over 200 million, according to the government. At an event held in Lagos recently, Norfund said it intends to drive development in Nigeria and create jobs through investments in the private sector. “Set to become the world’s third most populated country, Nigeria is Norway’s most

By Adedapo Adesanya The leader of the coup that ousted Gabon’s President, Mr Ali Bongo, Mr Brice Oligui Nguema, has promised to bring reforms as he was sworn in as interim president of the central African country on Monday. In Africa’s ninth coup in three years, army officers led by Mr Nguema (a general) seized power on August 30, minutes after an announcement that Mr Bongo had won his third term election in his 14 years as president. According to reports, Mr Nguema, a cousin of the deposed Garbonese leader, was given a standing ovation by military officers and officials

By Investors Hub Asian stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, with the Chinese and Hong Kong markets finishing modestly higher, while markets elsewhere across the region closed mostly lower on worries about corporate earnings and slowing global growth. China’s Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 2,651.51 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 0.5 percent to finish at 25,971.41. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended modestly lower after reaching three-week lows earlier in the day amid falling oil prices and worries about weak global growth. The Nikkei 225 Index fell as low as 21,243.38 in early trading before recouping most of its