By Adedapo Adesanya

The price of the Brent crude grade depreciated by 91 cents or 1.2 per cent to $76.58 per barrel on Wednesday after domestic crude stockpiles in the United States rose in the last week.

Also, price of the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude grade slumped by $1.15 or 1.6 per cent to $72.62 per barrel as the US Energy Information Administration revealed that crude oil inventories in the country grew by 3.5 million barrels in the week ending January 24.

On Tuesday, the API issued its latest estimates on crude oil and crude oil products inventories, showing a rise of 2.86 million barrels for the week ending January 24.

Market analysts noted that near-term oil trade should remain bearish as investors digest the tariff threats, sanctions on Russian energy flows, and economic growth concerns in top consuming nations

The White House on Tuesday reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s plan to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico from February 1.

Traders are also looking ahead to the ministerial meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) scheduled for February 3, with the group’s plan to increase supply from April in focus.

President Trump called on OPEC+ to lower oil prices last week but the group has yet to respond, but Reuters reported that delegates said policy changes are unlikely at the February meeting.

For analysts at Standard Chartered, OPEC has limited power to end the Russia-Ukraine war immediately through a reduction in the oil price, with OPEC ministers likely viewing this strategy as very inefficient.

OPEC+ members are currently holding back 5.86 million barrels per day of production, or about 5.7 per cent of global demand, after making a series of cuts since 2022 to support the market.

The group plans to start raising production in April, following several delays due to weak demand.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and the Chairman if the US central bank, Mr Jerome Powell, said there would be no rush to cut them again until inflation and jobs data made it appropriate.

On the supply front, Libya’s National Oil Corporation said export activity was running normally after it held talks with protesters who had demanded a halt to loadings at one of the country’s main oil ports.

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to the green territory on Wednesday after it closed higher by 0.57 per cent, though weak investor sentiment persisted.

It was observed that buying interest in some mid and large-cap equities helped Customs Street depose the bears at the close of business at midweek.

When the closing gong was struck by 2:30 pm yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 590.99 points to 104,549.74 points from 103,958.75 points and the market capitalisation increased by N365 billion to N64.521 trillion from N64.156 trillion.

During the trading day, the insurance sector experienced profit-taking, causing its index to weaken by 1.65 per cent at the close of transactions.

However, the energy space appreciated by 3.34 per cent, the consumer goods counter rose by 0.81 per cent, the banking industry expanded by 0.75 per cent, and the industrial goods sector leapt by 0.01 per cent.

Aradel Holdings gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N594.00, Chellaram improved by 9.98 per cent to N5.40, Stanbic IBTC rose by 9.92 per cent to N71.45, University Press soared by 9.64 per cent to N5.12, and DAAR Communications grew by 9.09 per cent to 84 Kobo.

On the side, McNichols fell by 10.00 per cent to N1.44, Caverton also tumbled by 10.00 per cent to trade at N2.07, Thomas Wyatt depreciated by 9.80 per cent to N1.84, Veritas Kapital lost 9.79 per cent to settle at N1.29, and Consolidated Hallmark shed 9.00 per cent to N2.73.

Yesterday, the bourse finished with 26 price gainers and 38 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.

The volume of transactions at midweek went down, according to data, by 22.24 per cent, while the value of trades and the number of deals increased by 10.29 per cent and 4.47 per cent, respectively.

This was because investors bought and sold 421.6 million equities valued at N15.0 billion in 16,256 deals yesterday versus the 542.2 million equities worth N13.6 billion transacted in 15,561 deals on Tuesday.

Universal Insurance traded 33.6 million shares worth N21.7 million to lead the activity log, Fidelity Bank sold 31.9 million stocks for N621.8 million, FCMB transacted 23.1 million equities valued at N269.5 million, Japaul exchanged 20.2 million stocks worth N43.4 million, and Veritas Kapital traded 17.1 million equities valued at N22.1 million.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

On January 31, 2025, the stablecoin of Tether, USDT, will be delisted from one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Crypto.com

Business Post gathered that eight other tokens would also be yanked off the platform by Friday, with deposits for the affected digital coins disabled after the delisting.

The other tokens are Crypto.com Staked ETH, Crypto.com Staked SOL, PayPal USD, Wrapped Bitcoin, PAX Gold, PAX Dollar, XSGD, and DAI.

The decision to remove these coins from its trading platform is to comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulations (MiCA).

On January 17, 2025, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) asked exchanges to drop non-compliant tokens, stressing the need for crypto asset service providers (CASPs) to align their services in compliance with the MiCA regulations.

However, holders of these affected coins will have until March 31 to convert their assets to MiCA-compliant alternatives.

If this is not done, the crypto exchange will automatically convert assets to MiCA-approved stablecoins or assets.

Tether’s USDT is one of the most popular stablecoins in the world but in recent times, it has started to lose its market share because of the regulatory uncertainty in Europe, particularly due to MiCA, going from about $150 billion to $139 billion.

The new regulations in the EU require 60 per cent of stablecoin reserves in the region to be in Euros, which Tether’s chief executive, Mr Paolo Ardoino, said threatens the future of stablecoins.