Economy
Stocks Further Shed 0.17% as Investors Lose Confidence in CBN FX Policy
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigerian stocks received further beatings on Tuesday as investors began to lose confidence in the foreign exchange (FX) policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
On Monday, the acting CBN Governor, Mr Folashodun Shonubi, after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja, said plans are being made to stabilise the Naira, warning that speculators will soon regret selling their local currency assets for Dollars.
He said this after the audit accounts of the apex bank for the 2022 fiscal year showed that what is left in the external reserves, about $20 billion, may not be enough to defend the Nigerian currency, triggering fears among some investors.
At the market yesterday, traders offloaded some of their equities, apparently in panic so as not to be caught off-guard. Some of them are selling to buy forex to edge their funds against Naira.
Business Post observed that apart from the insurance counter, which appreciated by 1.32 per cent, every other sector finished lower at the close of transactions.
The consumer goods space lost 0.68 per cent, the energy index depreciated by 0.40 per cent, the banking sector went down by 0.08 per cent, and the industrial goods counter finished lower by 0.06 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 107.39 points to 64,928.98 points from 65,036.37 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N58 billion to N35.357 trillion from N35.415 trillion.
Eterna ended the trading session as the heaviest price loser as it shed 9.86 per cent to trade at N16.00, Sunu Assurance trended downward by 9.62 per cent to 94 Kobo, Omatek declined by 8.11 per cent to 34 Kobo, Unilever Nigeria slumped by 7.05 per cent to N14.50, and AIICO Insurance dropped 5.63 per cent to sell at 67 Kobo.
The biggest price gainer was Tantalizers as it improved by 10.00 per cent to 44 Kobo, Ikeja Hotel grew by 9.82 per cent to N3.13, Cornerstone Insurance expanded by 9.30 per cent to N1.41, The Initiates appreciated by 8.82 per cent to N1.11, and Linkage Assurance rose by 8.33 per cent to 91 Kobo.
At the close of business, there were 31 price losers and 19 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index and a weak investor sentiment.
Apart from the CBN policy, the market reacted to the inflation figures of July 2023 released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.
The agency revealed that the average price of goods and services increased on a year-on-year basis by 24.08 per cent. In the previous month, inflation rose by 22.79 per cent.
This may have also put the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited under selling pressure yesterday, as the level of activity increased, with the trading volume, value, and the number of deals rising by 8.30 per cent, 11.91 per cent, and 6.73 per cent, respectively.
This was because the bourse recorded the sale of 280.5 million equities worth N4.7 billion in 6,296 deals compared with the 259.0 million equities worth N4.2 billion traded in 5,899 deals on Monday.
For another trading session, Transcorp was the most active after selling 36.5 million stocks valued at N147.5 million, followed by UBA, which sold 23.2 million shares for N325.4 million. Access Holdings transacted 17.7 million equities worth N299.4 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 16.0 million shares worth N57.5 million, and Japaul traded 11.4 million stocks valued at N11.0 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The duo of Geo-Fluids Plc and Afriland Properties Plc propelled the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange up 0.13 per cent on Friday, January 10.
Investors gained N1.4 billion during the trading session after the market capitalisation of the bourse ended at N1.053 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.052 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) increased at the close of business by 4.07 points to wrap the session at 3,073.93 points compared with 3,069.86 points recorded at the previous session.
Geo-Fluids added 25 Kobo to its value to close at N4.85 per unit compared with the previous session’s N4.60 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 24 Kobo to close at N16.25 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N16.01 per share.
There was a 35.4 per cent fall in the volume of securities traded in the session as investors exchanged 4.3 million units compared to 6.6 million units traded in the preceding session, the value of shares traded yesterday went down by 37.4 per cent to N17.2 million from the N27.5 million recorded a day earlier, and the number of deals decreased by 47.2 per cent to 19 deals from the 36 deals recorded in the preceding day.
FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.9 million units worth N74.2 million, followed by 11 Plc with 12,963 units valued at N3.2 million, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI )Plc with 10.7 million units sold for N2.1 million.
IGI Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 10.6 million units sold for N2.1 million, trailed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 1.9 million units valued at N74.2 million, and Acorn Petroleum Plc with 1.2 million units worth N1.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira witnessed a depreciation on the US Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, January 10.
According to data from the FMDQ Exchange, the local currency weakened against the greenback yesterday by 0.12 per cent or N1.80 to sell for N1,543.03/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,541.23/$1.
The pressure on the domestic currency came as the access granted to the Bureaux de Change (BDC) operators by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase FX from the official market through the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) platform prepares to end next week, precisely on January 19.
The CBN had given a 42-day window to the operators to access the platform to help stabilise the Naira in December, and this expires next week.
On Friday, the Nigerian currency tumbled against the Pound Sterling in the official market by N30.78 to sell for N1,889.29/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,858.51/£1, but gained N5.48 against the Euro to finish at N1,583.81/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s rate of N1,589.29/€1.
As for the parallel market, the Nigerian Naira remained stable against the US Dollar during the trading session at N1,650/$1, according to data obtained by Business Post.
In the cryptocurrency market, it was bearish as the US economy added 256,000 jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday, topping forecasts for 160,000 and up from 212,000 in November (revised from an originally reported 227,000).
However, the readings came after a number of recent economic reports triggered a broad-market pullback across asset classes such as crypto as investors quickly scaled back the idea of a continued series of Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025.
Cardano (ADA) fell by 3.6 per cent to trade at $0.921, Solana (SOL) slumped by 2.8 per cent to $185.93, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $3,233.27, Litecoin (LTC) lost 1.3 per cent to finish at $103.62, Dogecoin (DOGE) shed 0.5 per cent to sell at $0.3315, Bitcoin (BTC), waned by 0.2 per cent to $94,154.43, and Binance Coin (BNB) went south by 0.1 per cent to $693.30.
On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) jumped by 1.5 per cent to settle at $2.34, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-takers took control of Customs Street on Friday, plunging it by 0.08 per cent at the close of trading activities.
The sell-offs were across all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on last trading session of the week.
The insurance space went down by 1.53 per cent, the banking index depreciated by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector weakened by 0.16 per cent, and the energy counter slumped by 0.08 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) tumbled by 79.68 points to 105,451.06 points from 105,530.74 points and the market capitalisation retreated by N48 billion to N64.303 trillion from N64.351 trillion.
Yesterday, investors traded 1.5 billion shares worth N19.4 billion in 12,877 deals compared with the 489.5 million shares worth N13.1 billion transacted in 13,010 deals in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 1.02 deals and a rise in the trading volume and value by 203.14 per cent and 48.09 per cent, respectively.
Wema Bank was the busiest stock with 976.2 million units valued at N9.8 billion, Tantalizers traded 53.0 million units worth 129.6 million, Universal Insurance sold 34.8 million units for N26.8 million, Access Holdings exchanged 33.9 million units valued at N843.8 million, and Nigerian Breweries traded 27.3 million units worth N873.3 million.
The heaviest loss was suffered by Sunu Assurances with a decline of 9.99 per cent to trade at N7.30, Eunisell shed 9.96 per cent to N17.35, SAHCO crumbled by 9.87 per cent to N30.15, DAAR Communications plunged by 9.28 per cent to 88 Kobo, and Sovereign Trust Insurance went down by 7.04 per cent to N1.32.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing gained 10.00 per cent to close at N4.51, Honeywell Flour appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N10.02, Trans Nationwide Express jumped by 9.89 per cent to N2.00, RT Briscoe rose by 9.83 per cent to N2.57, and Secure Electronic Technology grew by 9.46 per cent to 81 Kobo.
Business Post reports that the bourse ended with 33 price gainers and 25 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
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