Economy

Upbeat Chinese Data May Generate Early Buying Interest

Published

6 years ago

01/04/2019

By Investors Hub

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks likely to see further upside following the notable advance seen last week.

Early buying interest is likely to be generated by continued optimism about U.S.-China trade talks as well as upbeat Chinese manufacturing data.

Official data showed Chinese manufacturing activity unexpectedly grew for the first time in fourth months in March.

A private survey also showed the manufacturing sector in the world’s second biggest economy returning to growth.

Additionally, Beijing has announced that it will continue to suspend additional tariffs on U.S. vehicles and auto parts after April 1 as a gesture after Washington delayed tariff hikes on Chinese imports.

A delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is headed to Washington later this week for another round of trade talks.

The positive sentiment may partly be offset by the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected decrease in U.S. retail sales in February, although the modest drop followed a significantly upwardly revised increase in sales in the previous month.

Stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, adding to the gains posted last Thursday. The major averages moved higher at start of trading and saw further upside as the day progressed.

Eventually, the major averages ended the session just off their best levels of the day. The Dow advanced 211.22 points or 0.8 percent to 25,928.68, the Nasdaq climbed 60.16 points or 0.8 percent to 7,729.32 and the S&P 500 rose 18.96 points or 0.7 percent at 2,834.40.

The major averages also moved notably higher for the week. While the Dow surged up by 1.7 percent, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq jumped by 1.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

The continued strength on Wall Street came amid optimism about the ongoing trade talks between the U.S. and China.

In a post on Twitter this morning, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described the latest round of high-level U.S. trade talks as “constructive.”

Mnuchin also said he looks forward to welcoming China’s Vice Premier Liu He to continue the important discussions in Washington next week.

Optimism about the trade talks also contributed to a continued rebound by treasuries, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note continuing to recover after ending Wednesday’s trading at its lowest closing level since December of 2017.

On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed personal income in the U.S. increased by slightly less than anticipated in the month of February.

The report said personal income rose by 0.2 percent in February after edging down by 0.1 percent in January. Economists had expected personal income to climb by 0.3 percent.

Reflecting the continued impact of the recent government shutdown, the Commerce Department also released data on personal spending in January but not February.

Personal spending inched up by 0.1 percent in January after falling by 0.6 percent in December, while economists had expected spending to increase by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, a separate Commerce Department report showed a much bigger than expected increase in U.S. new home sales in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said new home sales surged up by 4.9 percent to an annual rate of 667,000 in February from the revised January rate of 636,000. Economists had expected new home sales to increase by about 1.3 percent.

With the increase in February, new home sales are at their high level since hitting a rate of 672,000 last March and up 0.6 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, resulting in a 2.4 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.

Significant strength was also visible among biotechnology stocks, with the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index surging up by 2 percent.

Optimism about the U.S.-China trade talks also contributed to the considerable strength in the steel sector, as reflected by the 1.6 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Semiconductor, healthcare, and software stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Economy

FAAC Disburses 1.727trn to FG, States Local Councils in December 2024

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Modupe Gbadeyanka

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The federal government, the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local government areas have received N1.727 trillion from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for December 2024.

The funds were disbursed to the three tiers of government from the revenue generated by the nation in November 2024.

At the December meeting of FAAC held in Abuja, it was stated that the amount distributed comprised distributable statutory revenue of N455.354 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N585.700 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N15.046 billion and Exchange Difference revenue of N671.392 billion.

According to a statement signed on Friday by the Director of Press and Public Relations for FAAC, Mr Bawa Mokwa, the money generated last month was about N3.143 trillion, with N103.307 billion used for cost of collection and N1.312 trillion for transfers, interventions and refunds.

It was disclosed that gross statutory revenue of N1.827 trillion was received compared with the N1.336 trillion recorded a month earlier.

The statement said gross revenue of N628.972 billion was available from VAT versus N668.291 billion in the preceding month.

The organisation stated that last month, oil and gas royalty and CET levies recorded significant increases, while excise duty, VAT, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax (CIT) and EMTL decreased considerably.

As for the sharing, FAAC disclosed that from the N1.727 trillion, the central government got N581.856 billion, the states received N549.792 billion, the councils took N402.553 billion, while the benefiting states got N193.291 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

From the N585.700 billion VAT earnings, the national government got N87.855 billion, the states received N292.850 billion and the local councils were given N204.995 billion.

Also, from the N455.354 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government was given N175.690 billion, the states got N89.113 billion, the local governments had N68.702 billion, and the benefiting states received N121.849 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

In addition, from the N15.046 billion EMTL revenue, FAAC shared N2.257 billion to the federal government, disbursed N7.523 billion to the states and transferred N5.266 billion to the local councils.

Further, from the N671.392 billion Exchange Difference earnings, it gave central government N316.054 billion, the states N160.306 billion, the local government areas N123.590 billion, and the oil-producing states N71.442 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

Economy

Okitipupa Plc, Two Others Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 0.65%

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange recorded a 0.65 per cent gain on Friday, December 13, boosted by three equities admitted on the trading platform.

On the last trading session of the week, Okitipupa Plc appreciated by N2.70 to settle at N29.74 per share versus Thursday’s closing price of N27.04 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc added N2.49 to end the session at N42.85 per unit compared with the previous day’s N40.36 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc gained 50 Kobo to close at N16.30 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N15.80 per share.

Consequently, the market capitalisation added N6.89 billion to settle at N1.062 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N1.055 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 19.66 points to wrap the session at 3,032.16 points compared with 3,012.50 points recorded in the previous session.

Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 171.6 per cent to 1.2 million units from the 447,905 units recorded a day earlier, but the value of shares traded by the market participants declined by 19.3 per cent to N2.4 million from the N3.02 million achieved a day earlier, and the number of deals went down by 14.3 per cent to 18 deals from 21 deals.

At the close of business, Geo-Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 1.7 billion units worth N3.9 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with the sale of 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with 297.3 million units sold for N5.3 million.

In the same vein, Aradel Holdings Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 108.7 million units for N89.2 billion, trailed by Okitipupa Plc with 752.2 million units valued at N7.8 billion, and Afriland Properties Plc with a turnover of 297.3 million units worth N5.3 billion.

Economy

Naira Trades N1,533/$1 at Official Market, N1,650/$1 at Parallel Market

Published

1 day ago

14/12/2024

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated further against the United States Dollar at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) by N1.50 or 0.09 per cent to close at N1,533.00/$1 on Friday, December 13 versus the N1,534.50/$1 it was transacted on Thursday.

The local currency has continued to benefit from the Electronic Foreign Exchange Matching System (EFEMS) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) this month.

The implementation of the forex system comes with diverse implications for all segments of the financial markets that deal with FX, including the rebound in the value of the Naira across markets.

The system instantly reflects data on all FX transactions conducted in the interbank market and approved by the CBN.

Market analysts say the publication of real-time prices and buy-sell orders data from this system has lent support to the Naira in the official market and tackled speculation.

In the official market yesterday, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling by N12.58 to wrap the session at N1,942.19/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,954.77/£1 and against the Euro, it gained N2.44 to close at N1,612.85/€1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,610.41/€1.

At the black market, the Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback on Friday by N30 to sell for N1,650/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,680/$1.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was largely positive as investors banked on recent signals, including fresh support from US President-elect, Mr Donald Trump, as well as interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB).

Ripple (XRP) added 7.3 per cent to sell at $2.49, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 3.5 per cent to $728.28, Cardano (ADA) expanded by 2.4 per cent to trade at $1.11, Litecoin (LTC) increased by 2.3 per cent to $122.56, Bitcoin (BTC) gained 1.9 per cent to settle at $101,766.17, Dogecoin (DOGE) jumped by 1.2 per cent to $0.4064, Solana (SOL) soared by 0.7 per cent to $226.15 and Ethereum (ETH) advanced by 0.6 per cent to $3,925.35, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.