Evening Briefing: Top five news of the week

Investors hurt in N1trn market loss

Stock investors who took long-term positions this year on the shares of Skye Bank Plc and Forte Oil Plc have seen their equity portfolio decline significantly, while those that invested in the shares of Dangote Flour Mills Plc and Mobil Oil Plc have seen marked increase in their investments.

BusinessDay analysis of the 107 most traded stocks on the stock exchange, from January to December 9 shows that 60 stocks suffered significant drops in share price, only 23 stocks recorded an appreciation while the prices of 23 stocks remained unchanged. Read more here https://goo.gl/lwimLE

2. Oil price surge boosts hopes of Nigeria’s economic recovery in 2017

Hopes that the Nigerian economy will emerge from recession in 2017 have been boosted as oil prices surged to their highest level since mid-2015 on Monday, after the world’s top crude producers agreed to the first joint output cut since 2001. The price of a barrel of Brent crude climbed close to $58 in overnight trading, its highest level since July 2015, before edging back a little to above $56.

3. Bleak Christmas for three million Nigerians as MMM crashes

Christmas and New Year celebrations promise to be sour for more than three million Nigerian participants in the popular Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox (MMM) ponzi scheme, as the promoters of the scheme announced yesterday that they have suspended new payouts to subscribers.Before this development, many hopeful Nigerians had raised their stake in the MMM scheme in anticipation of more money to be spent during this Yuletide season. https://goo.gl/Q2WHVj

4. Hotels adopt flexible pricing to boost occupancy rate

easonal sales down 30% Nigerian hospitality industry, which has been under pressure since the second quarter of 2015 to increase rates in order to meet soaring operational cost, may resort to flexible pricing mechanism to reduce the pressure of dwindling occupancy rate. The hoteliers, especially leading international brands, are introducing flexible rates to boost. Read more here https://goo.gl/V0IBMB

5. Withdrawals from pension funds up 71% as more Nigerians lose jobs

Pension funds have come under pressure from increased withdrawals, as the country’s biting recession is causing many Nigerians to lose their jobs. Figures obtained from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) third quarter report for the period ended September 2016 show that a total of 177,284 people aged less than 50 years have so far accessed. Read more here https://goo.gl/HhywDg