Economy
Stock Market Sheds 0.31% as DSS-Emefiele Crisis Scares Investors
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited lost 0.31 per cent on Monday as news of operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) invading the headquarters of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in search of its Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, rattled investors.
For the past few weeks, investors at the local stock market had closely watched how the secret police have made moves to arrest the central banker over alleged terrorism financing.
However, things turned awry yesterday after it was reported that the security officials were at the CBN office in Abuja, disrupting their activities.
The apex bank later in the day released a statement that Mr Emefiele, whose whereabouts before now had been a subject of speculations, resumed duty after a vacation abroad.
He left Nigeria with President Muhammadu Buhari last month for the US-Africa Summit in Washington, DC, but did not return with his boss after the programme.
There are no indications if Mr Buhari would wade into the matter to reassure investors, especially offshore, that the rule of law would be allowed to play because of the wrong signal the matter is beaming to the world.
At the stock exchange yesterday, investors traded cautiously, which led to selling pressure, causing the trading volume, value and the number of deals to rise by 2.16 per cent, 26.92 per cent, and 13.68 per cent, respectively.
A total of 221.9 million shares worth N3.3 billion exchanged hands in 5,219 deals on Monday, compared with the 217.2 million shares worth N2.6 billion transacted in 4,591 deals last Friday.
UBA sold the highest number of stocks yesterday, 22.9 million units, followed by GTCO, which transacted 20.0 million units. Transcorp traded 14.6 million units, FBN Holdings exchanged 14.1 million units, and Zenith Bank transacted 13.5 million units.
From the analysis of the market data by Business Post, the banking sector suffered the heaviest fall as its index depreciated by 3.39 per cent. The industrial goods counter fell by 0.18 per cent, the consumer goods space depleted by 0.08 per cent, while the insurance and the energy sectors appreciated by 0.39 per cent and 0.09 per cent, respectively.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 163.66 points to 52,348.82 points from 52,512.48 points, as the market capitalisation reduced by N89 billion to N28.513 trillion from N28.602 trillion.
Investor sentiment was weak yesterday as the market breadth ended negative, with 23 price losers and 20 price gainers.
Chellerams declined by 9.70 per cent to N1.21, Prestige Assurance lost 8.70 per cent to trade at 42 Kobo, Livestock Feeds went down by 7.69 per cent to N1.20, Mutual Benefits decreased by 6.25 per cent to 30 Kobo, and Honeywell Flour shrank by 6.22 per cent to N2.26.
However, the share price of Presco grew by 9.67 per cent to N150.80, Coronation Insurance expanded by 9.52 per cent to 46 Kobo, FTN Cocoa gained 7.14 per cent to sell at 30 Kobo, ABC Transport went up by 6.90 per cent to 31 Kobo, as RT Briscoe also rose by 6.90 per cent to 31 Kobo.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange weakened by 0.22 per cent on Tuesday, April 28, with the market capitalisation down by N4.8 billion to N2.420 trillion from N2.425 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) down by 9.01 points to 4,044.96 points from 4,053.97 points.
During the session, the price of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went down by N1.82 to N767.05 per share from N78.87 per share, while FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc appreciated by N1.90 to N100.00 per unit from N98.10 per unit.
According to data, the value of trades increased by 265.7 per cent to N27.1 million from N7.4 million units, and the volume of transactions surged by 305.2 per cent to 1.3 million units from 319,831 units, while the number of deals decreased by 6.9 per cent to 27 deals from 29 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with the sale of 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.8 million units exchanged for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units traded for N1.9 billion.
GNI Plc also finished as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units sold for N1.2 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Pressure is beginning to mount on the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market despite an oil windfall triggered by the Middle East crisis.
On Monday, April 27, the domestic currency further weakened against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) by N16.47 or 1.2 per cent to N1,380.71/$1 from the previous day’s N1,364.24/$1.
It was not different against the Pound Sterling in the same market window, as it lost N16.04 to trade at N1,863.76/£1 versus Monday’s closing rate of N1,847.72/£1, and against the Euro, it slipped by N12.72 to close at N1,615.01/€1 versus N1,602.29/€1.
The Naira also depreciated against the Dollar at the black market yesterday by N5 to quote at N1,390/$1 compared with the previous price of N1,385, and at the GTBank forex counter, it further crashed by N9 to settle at N1,379/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,370/$1.
The continued decline of the Naira comes as traders increasingly seek other safe-haven currencies amid continued global disruptions.
The benefit awash in the global market is making foreign portfolio investors stay short in Nigerian markets. Despite this, the daily FX publication released showed that interbank turnover rose to $98.829 million across 78 deals, up from $76.65 million.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market remained cautious, with Bitcoin (BTC) trading at $77,216.66 despite surging oil prices and geopolitical tensions over a potential extended US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Analysts say the supply overhang has finally dried up, and the sellers who were spooked by macro shifts or quantum fears have already exited, leaving the market much thinner on the sell-side.
Investors will await decisions made by central banks this week. The US Federal Reserve will announce its rate decision later on Wednesday, while the European Central Bank (ECB) follows on Thursday.
Ethereum (ETH) gained 1.5 per cent to trade at $2,324.59, Dogecoin (DOGE) chalked up 1.4 per cent to sell for $0.1016, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 0.6 per cent to $84.85, Cardano (ADA) grew by 0.5 per cent to $0.2483, and Binance Coin (BNB) advanced by 0.2 per cent to $627.15.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 0.6 per cent to $0.3224, and Ripple (XRP) lost 0.03 per cent to sell at $1.39, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) were unchanged at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil was up by nearly 3 per cent on Tuesday as persistent worries about supply constraints from the closed Strait of Hormuz continued, with Brent futures for June rising by $3.03 or 2.8 per cent to $111.26 a barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures growing by $3.56 or 3.7 per cent to $99.93 a barrel.
An earlier round of negotiations between the United States and Iran collapsed last week after face-to-face talks failed.
Ship-tracking data showed significant disruptions in the region, with six Iranian oil tankers forced to turn back due to the US blockade, but some traffic is still moving.
Prices trimmed some of the advances after the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the fourth-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said on Tuesday it would exit the group on this Friday, May 1, 2026.
This dealt a blow to the oil-exporting group and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia.
The UAE could quickly add between 1 million and 1.5 million barrels per day of output. However, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, analysts said that there’s nowhere for that supply to go.
The UAE joined OPEC in 1967, but tension with Saudi Arabia over production quotas has been building for years.
Under the OPEC+ deal, the country has been held to roughly 3 million barrels per day while sitting on capacity above 4 million. It has been pushing toward 5 million barrels per day by 2027, and that target is hard to achieve with quotas built around someone else’s view of the market.
The war in Yemen broke whatever was left of diplomatic patience.
President Donald Trump said he was unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal to end the war. The proposal would avoid addressing the nuclear programme until hostilities cease and Gulf shipping disputes are resolved.
The Idemitsu Maru, a Panama-flagged tanker carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi oil, and an LNG tanker managed by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) crossed the Strait on Tuesday, shipping data showed.
Vortexa data showed that the amount of crude oil held around the world on tankers that have been stationary for at least seven days rose to 153.11 million barrels as of April 24.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 1.79 million barrels in the week ending April 24. The official data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later on Wednesday.
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