Market recap is a summary of activities across Nigerian and global financial markets every week.
Here is the market recap for the week ended June 15, 2018.
Stocks
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) closed at 38,928.02 basis points, up 0.67%. Year-to-date, the index remains positive at 1.79%. 40 equities appreciated in price during the week, 28 equities depreciated in price, while 101 equities remained unchanged.
Top three gainers for the week were Japaul Oil and Maritime which added 22.58%, Equity Assurance up 20%, and tier two lender, Union Bank, which appreciated by 10%.
Mutual Benefits Assurance led the week’s losers, dropping by 13.89%, followed by A.G. Leventis which closed at 7.55%, then Nigerian Breweries, down 5.98%.
A total of 1.7 billion shares valued at N18 billion were traded this week. The financial sector led in terms of volume traded with a total of 1.17 billion shares valued at N9 billion traded this week. Top traded stocks by volume were Ikeja Hotel, which traded 280 million shares, UBA at 189 million shares and African Prudential at 179 million shares.
United Capital Plc this week confirmed the resignation of its Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), Oluwatoyin Sanni, and the appointment of Peter Ashade as her replacement. His appointment is subject to regulatory approval.
As though continuing the trend of corporate resignations this week, African Alliance Insurance Plc also announced that one of its Non-Executive Director, Ambassador Nurain Abayomi Mumuni, resigned from its Board of Directors.
Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Newrest ASL, Capital Hotel, and Mutual Benefits Assurance were all marked down following dividend payments.
Foreign Exchange
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold $210 million this week across various tiers of the wholesale market. The Naira closed at N305.85 on the official market up 2%. At the parallel market (black market), the Naira remained flat at N362 to the dollar.
At the Investor and Exporter (I and E) window, the Naira appreciated by N0.29 to close at N360.45. The country’s external reserves have also hit the $48 billion mark.
Bonds
Average bond yields rose by 0.20% to close at 13.3%. As a bond’s price rises, its yield falls. As the price decreases, its yield increases.
The United States Federal Reserve System (the equivalent of Nigeria’s CBN) increased interest rates by 25 basis points (0.25%) this week. This could precipitate a sell-off by foreign investors in the weeks ahead.
Treasury Bills
A total of N180 billion in treasury bills was sold through a Primary Market Auction (PMA) this week. This comprised N124 billion worth of 364-day bills, N50 billion worth of 182-day bills, and N6.6 billion worth of 91-day bills.
Demand was highest at the 364-day range, with N191 billion offered. This reflects investors flight to long tenure bills in anticipation of a downtrend in inflation.
Recently released inflation figures by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), show that inflation dropped from 12.48% in April to 11.61% in May.
Marginal rates were 10.2%, 10.5% and 11.5% respectively.
Crude oil
Brent crude opened the week at $76.20 and is currently trading at $75.51, down 0.9%.
In the June 2018 update of its Short-Term Outlook Report, the United States’ Energy Information Administration (EIA) has forecast Brent to trade at an average of $71 per barrel for the rest of the year.
The Trans Forcados pipeline, which carries crude from Forcados, remains under repair.
Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrency markets were largely bearish during the week. The top 3 cryptocurrencies by market all dropped within the week.
Bitcoin opened at $6,705.4 on Monday and is currently trading at $6,637.49 as at the time of this report down 1.01%. Ethereum opened on Monday at $518.61 and is currently trading at $507.26 down 2.1%. Ripple opened on Monday at $0.57 and is currently trading at $0.55 down 3.5%.
Market capitalization opened at $291 billion on Monday and is currently at $284 billion, down 2.4%. Year to date, market capitalization is down 53%.
Bitcoin dominance rose marginally from 39.5% to 39.7%. Bitcoin dominance is the percentage share of its total market capitalization and is used to measure the value of Bitcoin flowing into or away from other currencies.
An excellent job Onome!