The domestic equities market yesterday sustained its bullish streak for the fourth consecutive session, following continued interest in banking stocks . The NSE All-Share Index advanced by 0.2percent to close at 24,882.04 points.
This was largely driven by buying sentiments across STANBIC (+5.0%), GUARANTY (+1.9%) and ACCESS (+0.8%) stocks. Month-to-Date gain increased to +0.8% while the Year-to-Date loss moderated to -7.3%.
Also, total trade volume grew by 148.1% to 383.29 million units, valued at NGN3.89 billion and exchanged in 3,860 deals. UACN was the most traded stock by volume at 81.74 million units while PRESCO was the most traded stock by value at NGN1.23 billion.
Sectoral performance was broadly positive, following gains in the Banking (+0.1%), Oil & Gas (+0.03%), Industrial (+0.01%), and the Consumer Goods (+0.01%) indices. The Insurance (-0.01%) index was the sole loser.
MTN is planning to sell part or all of its $243 million interest in Jumia Technologies as Africa’s biggest wireless carrier looks to pay down debt and enter new markets.
Dubbed Africa’s Amazon, Jumia operates in 14 African countries including Nigeria and Ivory Coast where Amazon still lacks distribution infrastructure.
The teleco-giant is reviving plans for a sale after Jumia’s shares surged 142% this year, recovering from a dip in 2019, one of the people said. No final decisions about the sale have been made.
The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) has issued a two-week ultimatum to airlines who have sacked or plan to sack their pilots and engineers under the guise of COVID-19 to reverse the decision after which pilots across all airlines would withdraw their services to the airlines.
The association has also tackled Bristow Helicopters for sacking 100 pilots and engineers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing the company was not telling the truth as it operated throughout the lockdown period servicing the oil and gas sector as essential service.
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Abednego Galadinma, president of NAAPE, made these known on Wednesday at a press conference at Airport Hotel Ikeja where he said the pilots and engineers have resolved to withdraw services of pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers across all airlines.
In recent times there has been a spate of terminations of contract of pilots and engineers across various airline reaching 170 so far from Bristow Helicopters and Air Peace all linked to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Gold continued its bullish rally on Wednesday by extending its new record run above the $2,000 mark, due to a weaker greenback and hopes of more stimulus packages to revive the world’s fragile economy.
The price of Spot gold as at 05.59 GMT was up by 0.20% to trade at $2,023.41. Gold prices gained 33% this year.
The U.S. dollar, which is often considered a safe-haven currency, dropped by 0.3% against its major rivals, thereby making gold cheaper for holders of other currencies.
The Lagos State Government has revoked the 2018 land use charge.
This was disclosed by the Lagos Commissioner for Finance, Rabiu Olowo, on Wednesday. According to him, the government reverted to pre-2018 land use charges.
According to Olowo, penalties for land use charges for 2017, 2018, and 2019 have also been waived, which translates to a loss of revenue amounting to N5.6billion.
“In 2018, there was an increase in the Land Use Charge rate as well as the method of valuation of properties, this shock had a sporadic increase in Land Use Charge payable by property owners. In view of the aforementioned, the current administration decided to review the Land Use Charge law by reversing the rate of Land Use Charge to pre-2018 while upholding the 2018 method of valuation,” he said.
