Economy

Stock Market Gains N52bn as Buhari Floors Atiku at Tribunal

Published

6 years ago

12/09/2019

By Dipo Olowookere

The nation’s stock market closed 0.39 percent higher on Wednesday after suffering two consecutive losses this week as a result of profit taking activities by investors.

During yesterday’s session, the bulls chased out the bears from the market as investors kept an eye on proceedings at the election tribunal giving its ruling on the disputes from the February 2019 presidential election between President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and his challenger, Mr Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

First feelers from the tribunal in Abuja gave clear indications that the President would retain his seat and this improved the level of confidence of investors, triggering buying pressure at the market.

Though the final judgement did not come before the close of transactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), earlier rulings dismissing some of the appeals of Mr Atiku on the legitimacy of Mr Buhari and others brought fresh air to the stock market.

At the end of the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 105.95 points to settle at 27,153.53 basis points from 27,047.58 basis points in the last session, while the market capitalization appreciated by N51.6 billion to finish at N13.210 trillion against N13.158 trillion on Tuesday.

But Business Post observed that despite the market closing bullish yesterday, the volume, value and number of deals executed depreciated by 41.92 percent, 70.18 percent and 5.70 percent respectively.

A total of 211.5 million shares worth N1.5 billion were exchanged by investors in 4,365 deals in the mid-week session compared with the 364.2 million equities valued at N4.9 billion transacted in 4,629 deals in the previous trading session.

Courtville recorded the highest volume of sales yesterday, closing with a turnover of 35.2 million units of its shares traded at N7.7 million.

It was followed by Sterling Bank, which traded 34.7 million shares worth N78.1 million, and Access Bank, which transacted 30 million equities valued at N208.4 million.

Furthermore, Transcorp exchanged 15.9 million units of its stocks worth N16.1 million during the trading day, while UBA sold 12.5 million shares worth N77.5 million.

An analysis of the price movement chart showed that yesterday, Nestle Nigeria topped the gainers’ table after a price appreciation of N40 to close at N1120 per unit.

Seplat trailed with a price growth of N24 to finish at N450 per share, CCNN gained 25 kobo to settle at N16.50k per share, May & Baker improved its share value by 19 kobo to end at N2.09k per unit, while FCMB garnered 9 kobo to close at N1.64k each.

At the other side, Guinness Nigeria closed as the day’s heaviest price loser after depreciating by 30 kobo to trade at N37 per share, while Stanbic IBTC went down by 25 kobo to finish at N35.75k per share.

Flour Mills also declined by 25 kobo to close at N13.25k per share, Dangote Flour shed 15 kobo to settle at N22.10k per unit, while UAC Nigeria depleted by 15 kobo to trade at N6.05k per share.

For the sectoral performance, only the insurance sector closed negative on Wednesday after going down by 1.25 percent.

The energy sector was the day’s highest gainer with 2.82 percent growth, the consumer goods index appreciated by 1.60 percent, banking stocks rose by 0.35 percent, while industrial sector appreciated by 0.16 percent.

Economy

Customs Street Chalks up 1.08% on Renewed Buying Pressure

Published

28 minutes ago

06/12/2025

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

A 1.08 per cent growth was further printed by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday on improved appetite for Nigerian stocks.

Data showed that the insurance sector lost 0.61 per cent yesterday due to profit-taking as the energy space gave up 0.08 per cent, while the commodity counter closed flat.

However, the industrial goods landscape appreciated by 2.06 per cent, the banking index improved by 1.31 per cent, and the consumer goods sector expanded by 0.83 per cent.

At the close of business on Customs Street, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,563.92 points to 147,040.07 points from 145,476.15 points and the market capitalisation went up by N996 billion to N93.722 trillion from N92.726 trillion.

UAC Nigeria led the advancers’ log yesterday after it grew by 10.00 per cent to N96.80, Transcorp Hotels jumped by 9.71 per cent to N172.80, Royal Exchange appreciated by 8.89 per cent to N1.96, Ikeja Hotel soared by 8.74 per cent to N31.10, and Veritas Kapital leapt by 8.07 per cent to N1.74.

On the flip side, Union Dicon declined by 10.00 per cent to N6.30, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N3.10, AXA Mansard depreciated by 7.19 per cent to N12.90, FTN Cocoa lost 4.62 per cent to trade at N4.75, and Guinea Insurance dropped 3.36 per cent to finish at N1.15.

A total of 38 stocks ended on the gainers’ table and 17 stocks finished on the losers’ table, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

Traders transacted 361.6 million equities for N14.8 billion in 21,051 deals yesterday versus the 1.9 billion equities worth N19.2 billion traded in 23,369 deals a day earlier, showing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 80.97 per cent, 22.92 per cent, and 14.20 per cent, respectively.

The busiest stock for the session was Zenith Bank with 59.5 million units worth N3.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 46.1 million units valued at N973.0 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 29.4 million units for N560.4 million, FCMB transacted 27.9 million units worth N293.9 million, and Tantalizers sold 13.0 million units valued at N29.8 million.

Economy

Nipco, 11 Plc Crash OTC Securities Exchange by 4.76%

Published

2 hours ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.

The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.

Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.

The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.

Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.

During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.

Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.

InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.

Economy

Naira Depreciates to N1,450/$1 at Official Forex Market

Published

2 hours ago

06/12/2025

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.

The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.

Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.

Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.

As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.

However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.

Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.

As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.

With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.

Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.