Stock Market Rises 0.96% as Rush for Banking Stocks Persists

By Adedapo Adesanya The President of the Dangote Group, the owners of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals plant, Mr Aliko Dangote, has said that following the purchase of 1 million barrels of Agbami crude grade from Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO), it will be looking to ramp up its production in coming months. The 650,000 barrels per day capacity refinery is not expected to hit full capacity until 2025, but with a gradual ramping, it is expected that it will begin with begin producing up to 370,000 barrels per day of diesel and jet fuel. “We

By Dipo Olowookere A 0.12 per cent appreciation was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, reversing the previous day’s losses triggered by profit-taking in the banking sector. Business Post reports that it was the same banking space that influenced the growth posted yesterday, rising by 1.60 per cent, supported by the consumer goods indices, which appreciated by 0.15 per cent. However, there were pockets of profit-taking during the last trading session of the week, with the insurance sector shedding 0.78 per cent, the industrial goods sector losing 0.65 per cent, and the energy counter declining by 0.57

By Adedapo Adesanya The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned Nigerians to be wary of fake Naira notes currently in circulation, vowing to prosecute those engaged in the illicit acts. The apex bank in a release signed by Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali, the acting Director of Corporate Communications, said the counterfeit notes have been spread by some individuals for transactions in food markets and other places where commerce takes place across the country, noting that this is a punishable offence. “The attention of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been drawn to the circulation of counterfeit banknotes, especially

By Adedapo Adesanya  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that the total value of the country’s merchandise trade experienced an increase of 1 per cent to $7.8 billion in August 2023 from the $7.72 billion that was quoted in July. This was disclosed by the apex bank in its latest monthly economic publication, where it disclosed that despite the rise month-on-month, Nigeria’s merchandise trade value in the period was almost 20 per cent lower compared to the value in August 2022 due to a significant decrease in import trade value. The total merchandise trade comprised an export trade

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Heavy losses recorded on Friday by Okomu Oil, International Breweries and 26 other equities on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) left the market down by 0.59 percent. Business Post reports that profit-taking activities by investors at the equity market contributed to the decline, which sank the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns deeper to -4.56 percent. Okomu Oil, which led the losers’ table on Friday, went down by N5 at the close of business to finish at N76 per share. International Breweries, which followed, lost N2.90k to settle at N30.50k per share, while Forte Oil depreciated

With football finding itself within the vice-like grip of a global pandemic, it was enough to put last season’s Champions League at risk and with pan-continental competition being considered an absolute no, it would require a considerable amount of thinking outside the box to restart it. Thinking that was required for this and the Europa League, to reach a rightful conclusion and with the usual format of home and away legs scrapped, it meant one nation would host each of the final phases of these respective competitions. For the Europa League, it was the home of the Bundesliga which become

By Adedapo Adesanya The price of crude oil settled higher on Thursday as slowing inflation data from the United States offset worries that renewed COVID-19 curbs in China would hurt fuel demand. Brent crude gained 1.1 per cent or $1.02 to trade at $93.67 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate(WTI) crude rose by 0.8 per cent or 64 cents to settle at $84.67 per barrel. After three days of declines, crude futures rallied after the inflation data supported investors’ hopes that the US Federal Reserve would temper its interest rate hikes, which could support oil demand. US Consumer

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigeria has retained its spot as the number one economy in Africa. This was confirmed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In August 2016, Nigeria lost her place as Africa’s biggest economy to South Africa. But the latest report by the IMF put the West African giant as number, while the former apartheid led country returns to second place. TheCable reports that the latest estimates from the IMF put Nigeria’s GDP at $415.080 billion, from $493.831 billion at the end of 2015. The IMF World Economic Outlook for October 2016 puts South Africa’s GDP at $280.367 billion,

By Gbolahan Oluyemi Due to the increasing problems pertaining to pension payment, the National Assembly enacted the Pension Reform Act 2004 during the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo Administration. However, the legislation did not effectively achieve the objectives after 10 years of operation.  Consequently, the National Assembly passed the Pension Reform Act 2014 which was signed into law by the former President – Dr Goodluck Jonathan in July 2014. The Pension Reforms Act 2014 repealed the Pension Reform Act 2004. While the objectives of the 2004 and 2014 Pension Reform Acts are the same, the 2014 Act seeks to achieve the smooth

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigerians have been warned against investing in unregistered fund managers luring them with juicy returns for their investment in their companies. This warning was made by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which listed of these firms it said operate Ponzi schemes. The agency said these unlawful/unlicensed investment operators promise their victims huge, but unjustifiable returns on investment, stressing that anyone who puts his/her money in them does so at his/her own risk. SEC listed names of these “fraudulent schemes as Loom Nigeria Money, Box Value Trading Company Ltd, Now-Now Alert, Flip Cash Investment, Result Investment Nigeria

By Dipo Olowookere The managing director of Unity Bank Plc, Mrs Tomi Somefun, has promised customers of the financial institution innovative digital banking services. She made this pledge while reacting to the financial statements of the company for the period ended September 30, 2023, where the lender grew its customer deposits by about 5 per cent on a year-to-date basis to N344.4 billion from N327.4 billion in December 2022. Mrs Somefun attributed this to the competitive products Unity Bank offers customers, as the company drives initiatives to ramp up transactions as part of its strategy for the short and medium

By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke Unlike in the past when Nigerians queue at banks for their transactions, and today you can do it in the comfort of your home with your smartphone by either using the mobile app or USSD. It’s that simple. And the emergence of fintechs has further strengthened the financial sector. However, with the seamlessness of online payments, there is a very big disadvantage – you can easily lose your money. As such, fraud has been simplified as it only takes less than two minutes to clear out a target account. This won’t happen when you visit banks for