Back-to-back losses for Nigerian equities
The Nigerian equities market closed yesterday’s trading session in the red, making it two days of losses after a near two week-long bullish run.
Traders say the decline was due to profit taking by investors.
The NSE All Share Index and Market Capitalisation declined by 75bps apiece to 29,062.50pts and N14.99 trillion respectively.
Activity level similarly weakened as volume traded decreased by 46.00% to 360mn units, valued at N2.835bn (-56.49%).
In yesterday’s trading session, Beta Glass (+10.00%), Cornerstone Insurance (+9.43%) and GlaxoSmithKline (+7.14%) emerged the best performing stocks.
At the bottom of the pricelist, Livestock Feeds (-9.09%), Sovereign Trust Insurance (-9.09%) and Meyer (-8.00%) led the laggards.
In line with the benchmark index, sectorial performance was largely bearish as all five indices, save for the NSE insurance index (+33bps), trended southwards.
The NSE industrial (-1.30%), banking (-21 bps), consumer goods (-21 bps) and oil & gas (-11bps) all closed negative.
Read also: NSE securities lending report shows 20.78million units available
U.S and China sign first phase agreement
United States President, Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart signed the first phase of a broader trade pact this morning Wednesday.
The nearly three-year-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies have roiled financial markets, dithered investments and cast a cloud over global growth.
Under the phase one agreement, China has promised to buy an additional US$12.5bn in U.S. agricultural products in year one, and then US$19.5 billion in year two. Those commitments come atop roughly US$24bn in farm purchases that China made in 2017, before the trade war started.
In exchange, the U.S. agreed to reduce tariffs on US$120 billion in Chinese products from 15% to 7.5%. Those changes are set to take effect within 30 days of the pact’s signing along with the broader deal. However, while China has agreed to purchase more U.S. products, it has not made any specific commitments to reduce tariffs imposed on the U.S.
Nigeria’s daily oil production plunges to 1.57mn barrels
According to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) monthly oil market report, Nigeria’s crude oil production fell to a record low of 1.57mn barrels per day last month from 1.66mn bpd in November. Notably, Nigeria’s crude production in December was in line with its OPEC quota of 1.77mn bpd.
Private sector kicks as House of Reps asks NERC to freeze electricity tariff hike
The House of Representatives, through its committee on Power on Tuesday directed the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to suspend its planned electricity increment, in what has drawn condemnation from the private sector.
The electricity regulatory body had earlier announced a planned hike that was to take effect from April.
The move was supposed to be the first step in solving the many problems of Nigeria’s failing power sector.
“It’s quite disappointing that Nigeria is not showing the urgency in yielding to the type of reforms that will engender investor confidence in the economy,” said Ayodeji Ebo, the managing director of investment bank, Afrinvest Securities Ltd.
The House Committee on Power, which met with the ministry, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and distribution companies in Abuja on Tuesday, asked that the policy, scheduled for implementation from April 1, 2019, be put on hold until the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, concluded his talks with stakeholders.
Read also: Why liquidity crisis in electricity industry is sustained
Here’s some of who’s attending Davos this year
Business leaders and politicians from around the world are gearing up to attend another session of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland next week.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the event in the Swiss Alps and its theme is “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World.” The annual economic gathering will run from January 21 until January 24.
CNBC drew up a list of some of the top attendees.
Sanna Marin
At 34, Sanna Marin is the world’s youngest serving prime minister as well as Finland’s third female leader.
Steven Mnuchin
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin led the discussion in Davos in 2017, having said at a news conference that a weaker dollar was good for the United States. His comments represented a shift in U.S. policy and sparked a dollar sell-off.
Ursula von der Leyen,
Leyen is the president of the European Commission.
The former German minister for defense became the head of the EU’s executive arm in December. The new president of the European Commission has many pressing subjects to deal with, including gathering support for her new climate change package.
Christine Lagarde
The newly-appointed head of the European Central Bank is a well-known figure at WEF. Lagarde, the first female president of the ECB, used to visit the event in her role as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
Greta Thunberg
Thunberg is a 17-year old Swedish climate activist. Time’s “Person of the Year” in 2019 has a clear message to lawmakers and business leaders: commit to divest from fossil fuels now.
Ren Zhengfei
Zhengfei is Huawei Technologies founder.
Technology has always been a key point of discussion at Davos and this year won’t be any exception, with 5G technology being a crucial part of the debate.
Huawei has led the 5G race across the world, but at the same time it sparked some division between traditional allies, such as the United States and the European Union. U.S. authorities have raised concerns about Huawei’s connections to the Chinese government, which it denies, and took steps to bar the company from selling its technology in the U.S. market. Meanwhile, the European Union is still forming its collective answer to the issues, but the German government announced it does not want to outright block the Chinese
