Economy
Weak European Data Dent Oil Prices
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was a negative outcome for major crude benchmarks in the international market on Monday due to worries about demand following disappointing business activity data in Europe and a weak Chinese economy.
The Brent crude lost 59 cents or 0.8 per cent to trade at $73.90 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by 63 cents or 0.9 per cent to $70.37 a barrel.
Both oil benchmarks rose more than 4 per cent last week, buoyed by the US Federal Reserve’s decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points and signal further reductions in borrowing costs by the end of the year.
However, at the opening session for the week, weak data from the top two economies in the European Union – Germany and France – dented the outcome.
German business activity contracted in September, with the HCOB flash composite PMI falling from 48.4 in August to 47.2 in September, a seven-month low just as the French preliminary composite PMI data, a measure of business activity in the manufacturing and services sector, also fell in September.
Meanwhile, business activity in the US was steady in September, but average prices charged for goods and services rose at the fastest pace in six months, potentially hinting at a pickup in inflation in the coming months.
China, the world’s top oil importer, is battling deflationary pressures and struggling to lift growth despite a series of policy measures aimed at spurring domestic spending.
The market also continues to weigh supply concerns from Israel’s latest airstrikes on Hezbollah, which created more tensions and supported oil prices.
After almost a year of war in Gaza, Israel is shifting its focus to its northern border, across which Hezbollah has been firing rockets in support of its ally Hamas.
Fresh weather worries remain as a potential Tropical Cyclone System 9 intensifies as it moves toward the US Gulf coast, where the brewing storm could turn into a hurricane by Wednesday.
Shell, Chevron, and Norway’s Equinor have all begun evacuating staff from offshore facilities as the threat of the storm means more production shut-ins.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that the tropical cyclone system, which was near western Cuba on Monday, is expected to intensify over the next 72 hours.
By Dipo Olowookere
The three major partners of the Dangote Refinery in the Lekki area of Lagos, MRS Oil Nigeria, Heyden and Ardova Plc, will retail premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, at its stations across the country at N970 per litre.
This information was revealed by Dangote Refinery, owned by one of Africa’s richest businessmen, Mr Aliko Dangote.
The three independent oil marketers entered into a bulk-purchasing agreement with the oil facility, which has the capacity to refinery about 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The deal, first sealed by MRS Oil, ensured that it retailed fuel at its petrol stations at N935 per cent litre.
However, last week, Dangote Refinery increased its ex-depot price from N899.50 per litre to N950 per litre due to a rise in the price of crude oil to $80 per litre in the global market from about $72 per barrel.
In a statement on Sunday made available to Business Post, Dangote Refinery said, “All our partners, including Ardova, Heyden, and MRS Holdings, will offer petrol to Nigerians at a retail price of N970 per litre nationwide.
“We have absorbed the increased logistics costs to guarantee uniform pricing across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.17 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, extending the stay of the local bourse in the positive territory.
This uptrend was maintained despite profit-taking in the banking sector, which left its index down by 0.23 per cent at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the insurance industry expanded by 4.04 per cent during the session, the energy counter improved by 1.05 per cent, and the consumer goods space gained 0.58 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 170.62 points to 102,353.68 points from 102,183.06 points and the market capitalisation grew by N541 billion to N62.851 trillion from N62.310 trillion.
There were 34 price gainers and 22 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
The trio of Caverton, Livestock Feeds and Sovereign Trust Insurance appreciated by 10.00 per cent each during the session to quote at N2.20, N5.94, and N1.10, respectively, as Neimeth jumped by 994 per cent to N3.43, and Royal Exchange increased by 9.88 per cent to 89 Kobo.
On its part, Academy Press lost 9.74 per cent to close at N3.15, PZ Cussons declined by 9.09 per cent to N25.00, DAAR Communications weakened by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, Transcorp Power shed 5.91 per cent to settle at N46.95, and Dangote Sugar fell by 4.94 per cent to N38.50.
A total of 327.8 million shares valued at N11.8 billion were traded in 11,905 deals on Friday versus the 472.2 million shares worth N16.7 billion transacted in 12,336 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 30.58 per cent, 29.34 per cent and 3.49 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings recorded the highest sales with 49.1 million stocks sold for N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 20.4 million shares valued at N359.0 million, UBA traded 20.1 million equities worth N681.0 million, Oando transacted 14.8 million shares for N998.1 million, and Universal Insurance traded 13.8 million stocks worth N8.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its upward movement with a 0.26 per cent gain on Friday, January 17 amid renewed interest in unlisted stocks.
This raised the market capitalisation of the trading platform by N2.79 billion at the close of business to N1.075 trillion from the N1.072 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 8.08 points at the close of transactions to 3,111.91 points from the 3,103.83 points recorded at the previous session.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 606 per cent to 486,215 units from 1.2 million units, the value of shares shrank by 84.7 per cent to N2.8 million from N18.0 million, and the number of deals decreased by 65 per cent to 14 deals from the 33 deals carried out a day earlier.
In the final trading day of the week, there were three price gainers and one price loser, Geo-Fluids Plc, which lost 9 Kobo to finish at N4.70 per unit versus the preceding session’s price of N4.79 per unit.
On the flip side, Okitipupa Plc gained N3.60 to settle at N39.59 per share compared with the previous day’s N35.99 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc added 3 Kobo to wrap at 36 Kobo per unit compared with the preceding session’s 33 Kobo per share, as FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 49 Kobo to N39.65 per unit from N39.16 per unit.
At the close of business, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc remained the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 million units worth N134.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and Afriland Properties Plc with 690,825 sold for N11.1 million.
The most active stock by volume (year-to-date) remained IGI Plc with 23.5 million units worth N5.3 million, followed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 8.9 million units valued at N43.0 million, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 3.4 million units sold for N134.9 million.
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