All Share Index Drops By 46 Points

The All Share Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange today lost value as investors actively sold their shares. The ASI dropped by 0.17% (46 points) compared with a 0.53% (147 points) gain yesterday, to end the day at 27,697.12 points, while Market Capitalization for the market at the close of trading today was N9.52 Trillion.

A total of 2,625 deals were struck today, an increase from 2,408 deals recorded yesterday, while the total volume of shares traded on the floor today were 167,467,952 and the total value of transactions recorded today was N2.3 Billion.

GUINNESS the gainers chart today adding N6 to close at N126 followed by NESTLE and UNILEVER which added N2 and N0.98 close at N810 and N38 respectively; OKOMUOIL and NB added N0.67 and N0.30 to close at N27 and N117 respectively.

The losers chart was led by MOBIL who lost N2.05 to close with a share price of N130 followed by GUARANTY and UACN who lost N0.99 and N0.55 to close with share prices of N21 and N26.45 respectively; STANBIC and ZENITHBNK lost N0.5 and N0.29 to close with share prices of N17.5 and N15.61 respectively.

The top five most actively traded shares by volume on the exchange today were ZENITHBNK with shares valued at N540 Million, GUARANTY with shares valued at N623 Million, FBNH with shares valued at N75 Million, CONTINSURE with shares valued at N11 Million and TRANSCORP with shares valued at N20 Million.

Market breadth closed positive as GUINNESS led 24 Gainers against 20 Losers led by MOBIL.

Year-To-Date currently stands at -20.08%

North-East senators push for NDDC equivalent to address effects of Insurgency

Senators representing the North-Eastern part of the country are asking for the establishment of a Development Commission to address the issues of insurgency and its attendant crisis in the area.

Fidel-Castro Oseghale reports that as a result, eighteen senators representing the region yesterday in plenary submitted a bill entitled North East Development Bill 2015 to address such issues.

The bill which was sponsored by Senate Leader, Ali Ndume and seventeen others, stressed the urgent need for an act to establish a commission akin to the Niger Delta Development Commission, charged with the responsibility to receive and manage funds from allocation of the Federation Account.

CBN to raise N129bn in treasury bills

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it plans to raise N129.17 billion worth of local currency denominated treasury bills with maturities range of 3-month and 1-year on December 2.

The apex bank said it will issue N17.85 billion worth in the 3-month paper, N18 billion in the 6-month paper and N93.32 billion n in the 1-year bill, using the Dutch Auction System.

Yields on Nigeria’s bonds fell below 10 per cent across maturities as trading started yesterday, traders said, a day after the CBN announced a surprise interest rate cut aimed at stimulating lending in the economy.

Traders said they are expecting lower returns on the short-date paper at the auction next week in tandem with the prevailing trend in the secondary market.


    
    

Senate orders Buhari to end fuel scarcity in two weeks

The Senate, on Thursday gave President Muhammadu Buari, the Minister for Petroleum, the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation and other subordinating agencies two weeks to end the ongoing fuel scarcity across the country.

This was disclosed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Downstream, Senator Uche Ekwunife, during a meeting with the Ministry of Petroleum and other relevant agencies over the current fuel scarcity being experienced across the country. ‎

Ekwunife said, “We are giving you a target of two weeks.

“The price discrepancy must stop and we are also mandating the M‎inister of Petroleum, head of agencies to stop the scarcity within two weeks.”

The Chairman also noted that the committee will look into the issue of subsidy payment and malfunctioned refineries in the country.

Lamenting the current fuel scarcity been faced, Ekwunife said the country had not had it this bad for a long time.

The Managing Director of the Petroleum Pricing Monitoring Company, PPMC, Esther Nnamdi-Ogbuche, while reacting to the issue of fuel scarcity said economic saboteurs were behind the scarcity, adding that her agency will not relent, but ensure that the saboteurs were put out of business.

Nigerian Stock Exchange Rebounds With 0.53% Gain

 The downward plunge of the Nigerian Stock Exchange was halted today as bearish sentiments from investors helped the market to a moderate rebound. The ASI moved up by 0.53% (147 points) to end the day at 27,743.92 points, while Market Capitalization for the market at the close of trading today was N9.53 Trillion.

A total of 2,408 deals were struck today, a reduction from 3,011 deals recorded yesterday, while the total volume of shares traded on the floor today were 207,819,277 and the total value of transactions recorded today was N2.7 Billion.

DANGCEM the gainers chart today adding N1.99 to close at N159.99 followed by GUARANTY and NB which added N0.99 and N0.98 close at N21.99 and N116.7 respectively; CAVERTON and IKEJAHOTEL added N0.22 and N0.16 to close at N2.59 and N3.39 respectively.

The losers chart was led by MOBIL who lost N6.94 to close with a share price of N132.05 followed by GUINNESS and JBERGER who lost N2 and N1.97 to close with share prices of N120 and N37.53 respectively; INTBREW and ETI lost N0.5 and N0.5 to close with share prices of N16 and N16 respectively.

The top five most actively traded shares by volume on the exchange today were DIAMONDBNK with shares valued at N164 Million, ZENITHBNK with shares valued at N453 Million, GUARANTY with shares valued at N537 Million, FBNH with shares valued at N51 Million and UBA with shares valued at N26 Million.

Market breadth closed negative as DANGCEM led 13 Gainers against 20 Losers led by MOBIL.

Year-To-Date currently stands at -19.95%.

Experts commend CBN for reducing MPR, CRR

Some financial experts on Wednesday commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its decision to adjust downwards its monetary policy rates.

The experts, who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ogun, said that banks would now be more comfortable to lend to the real sector.

Dr. Wale Adegbite, the President, Ogun Chapter of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), commended the downward adjustment of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) and Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR).

Adegbite said the reduction in MPR was commendable because it would enable banks to lend at lower rates to the real sector.
The CBN announced the adjustment of the rates after a two-day meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) was adjusted from 13 per cent to 11 per cent, while the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was adjusted from 25 per cent to 20 per cent.

The CBN said that the measures were to check inflation in the country.

MAN president said that the adjustment of the monetary policy rates would make more funds available to manufacturers to do business.

He, however, expressed regret that Nigerian banks preferred to invest in treasury bills rather than lend to manufacturers.

Adegbite said this preference by bankers was due to the high risk of doing business in the country.

“Commercial banks in Nigeria believe that the real sector finds it difficult to make profit due to infrastructure challenges like poor power supply and inadequate transportation system,’’ he said.

The MAN chief said that the Federal Government needed to address the nation’s infrastructural problems to enable banks to lend effectively to the real sector.

Dr. Titus Okunronmu, a former CBN Director, said lowering the interest rates was a welcome development, saying that there had been lots of complaints about the high interest rates in the financial sector.

Abuja DISCO blames constant power failure in Niger on N696m debt

The Business Regional Manager of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Mr. Akuboku Emenike, has blamed the constant power failure being experienced in parts of the state to huge debts and as well the national towers vandalized by unknown persons.

The explanations by the AEDC Regional Manager on Tuesday is coming as members of the Niger State House of Assembly (NSHA) disagree with the excuses for constant power failure and therefore opted for a, ‘no-light-no-bill’ to consumers in the state.

Emenike attributed the constant power outage to unpaid electricity bills to the tune of, N695 million by the state and therefore called on the state government to ensure payment of the outstanding bills for improved supply.

“AEDC is being owed N695 million in all local government areas and this money is expected to be paid by the end of this month. What we have at the moment is less than N200 million which is far low in disparity and that is why we are appealing to the government to help us evolve strategies to get the people pay up their bills”.

Emenike was summoned by the Niger State House of Assembly to explain the rationale behind the gross interruptions and in some cases total blackouts as they proposed no-light-no-pay for electricity not consumed by customers.

The lackadaisical attitude of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company in carrying out their statutory services is becoming worrisome and Nigerlites will no longer be cowed into paying for electricity they did not consume.

Besides crazy billing, high voltage supply often lead to destruction of electrical appliances and in some cases cause deaths, the legislature argued as they recalled the incident at Angwan-billi and Emir’s palace all within Minna metropolis where human and material damages were recorded.
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The Regional Manager who apologized for the development however told the state legislature that issues of efficient power supply to citizens was beyond the control of the company but can only be possible ‘when the system improves’.

The AEDC Manager joined in defence of the company by the Head of Communication, Mr. Oyebode Fadepe however assured the members of the House of Assembly that the company will be more careful at ensuring that customers are not shortchanged and appealed that the company be given time to review the issues raised with a view to addressing them.

Contrary to the insinuations that the poor electricity supply in the state is caused by monies collected from the state not remitted to their Abuja headquarters, the AEDC officials told the legislature that supply in the last few weeks have been an unusual situation beyond their control but expressed optimism that power supply in the state will soon be back to normal.

    
    
    

Nigeria to explore its 600trn ft³ gas potential for sustainable devt – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigeria was taking appropriate steps to turn its abundant gas resources into veritable catalyst for development as the nation’s gas potential might be in excess of 600 trillion cubic feet.

The President said this at the 3rd summit of Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Tehran, Iran, on Monday.

He said the country was taking the steps because natural gas was fast evolving as the fuel of choice for sustainable development in view of its impressive suitability for environmental protection and lower cost of supply in comparison with fossil fuels.

He, therefore, charged the leadership of the GECF to take appropriate steps towards sustaining the pricing of gas at the international market for the benefit of member countries.

He said that the stability of the energy and financial market was critical to ensuring investments in current and future natural gas projects.

Power generation rises to 4,883.9MW – TCN

The Transmission Company of Nigeria said the country achieved a new record peak generation of 4,883.9MW and the highest maximum daily energy delivery of 106,288.48MWH.

A statement signed on Tuesday by the Assistant General Manager (Public Affairs) of the TCN, Clement Ezeolisah, said the new peak generation was achieved on Monday.

The statement added that the previous peak generation was 4,810.7MW, which was attained on August 25.

It stated that the previous highest maximum daily energy wheeled was 104,794.26MWH and was attained on September 23.

The statement said the the Managing Director, System Operation/Market Operation of the TCN, Dipak Sarma, attributed the achievement to improvement in the supply of gas to the power generating stations and cooperation among all the stakeholders.

The statement gave the assurance that TCN would continue to improve the network capacity to deliver more quality power to the electricity distribution companies.

Equities Market In Turmoil As Investors Actively Dump Shares

The downward plunge of the Nigerian Stock Exchange continued today as investors continued to actively dump shares, leading to a 0.89% loss compared to a 1.10% loss recorded yesterday. The ASI lost 224 basis points to end the day at 27,596.81 basis points, while Market Capitalization for the market at the close of trading today was N9.48 Trillion.

A total of 3,011 2,663 deals were struck today, an increase from 2,663 deals recorded yesterday, while the total volume of shares traded on the floor today were 176,386,512 and the total value of transactions recorded today was N3 Billion.

NESTLE the gainers chart today adding N1 to close at N808 followed by NB and UNILEVER which added N0.72 and N0.64 close at N115.72 and N37.02 respectively; PRESCO and NAHCO added N0.50 and N0.18 to close at N31 and N3.82 respectively.

The losers chart was led by DANGCEM who lost N4 to close with a share price of N158 followed by WAPCO and CAP who lost N0.5 and N0.5 to close with share prices of N89 and N38 respectively; CCNN and OANDO lost N0.4 and N0.32 to close with share prices of N7.61 and N5.87 respectively.

The top five most actively traded shares by volume on the exchange today were GUARANTY with shares valued at N533 Million, ZENITHBNK with shares valued at N379 Million, UBA with shares valued at N57 Million, FBNH with shares valued at N76 Million and TRANSCORP with shares valued at N20 Million.

Market breadth closed negative as NESTLE led 13 Gainers against 22 Losers led by DANGCEM.

Year-To-Date currently stands at -20.37%.

Petrol now sold for N180 per litre in P/Harcourt, N300 at black market

Despite the threats by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, to dispense petroleum products of any marketer found hoarding free to members of the public, the pump price of petrol per litre in some petrol stations in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, now goes for N180 per litre.

At the black market,10 litres of petrol sell for N3,000, while 20 litres go for N6,000.

An exasperated commercial motorist, who gave his name as Amadi Thomas claimed he had been at petrol station for five hours but had no hope of buying the product.

He blurted: “I don’t care where the problem is coming from- Tank Farm owners, Major or Independent Marketers or whoever, they should resolve their problem and provide us products to buy. Port Harcourt has two refineries, numerous Tank Farms in Onne, Abonnema Warf, Port Harcourt ports, Iworfe and others,yet we continue to hear unacceptable stories and excuses.”

The scarcity has terribly impacted the pockets of parents whose children go to school with public transport. The cost of commercial transportation has doubled. Buses that normally charge N50 increased their fares to N100 per bus stop. Similarly, taxis now charge N200 for every bus stop. Commuters who cold not cope trek to their destinations to cut costs.

The attendant consequences are lateness to destinations and fatigue.

Owners of petrol stations now play hide and seek with officials of DPR and sell their products at night to desperate customers and black marketers.

It was observed that very few Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, stations that have products and sell at the official pump price of N87 per litre are usually over crowded by anxious motorists who form queues as early as 4 am.

Olaniyi Ibiyemi, Head of Downstream Sector of the DPR had warned that as directed by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, any petrol station that has petroleum products but refuses to sell, DPR officers should dispense such products free of charge and sanction the owners.

He vowed that marketers have no excuse to hoard or sell above pump price.

The scarcity of petroleum has thrown up other challenges. Traffic gridlocks are on various roads where petroleum products are sold as desperate motorists block dual carriageways such as Trunk ‘A’ like the Port Harcourt/Aba Expressway, East-West roads and Ikwerre road.

On traffic congestions caused by anxious motorists who block the road in their desperate attempt to buy products,Ahmad Muhammad, DSP, the image maker of the Rivers State Police Command assured that policemen would be deployed to monitor and direct traffic to ease the movement of members of the public.

Fuel queues remain as NNPC pumps 21m litres of PMS

Fuel queues have ceased to fade despite an additional 21 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol supplied by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to filling stations across the federation at the weekend.

Oil marketers and the federal government had last Wednesday pledged to restore sanity to the fuel supply and distribution condition within days. But the situation is yet to improve across the states and the Federal Capital Territory, findings have shown.

Most of the filling stations monitored at the City Centre and the outskirts of Abuja on Monday had long queues of desperate motorists struggling for several hours before they could buy the product.

Our reporter gathered that though the queues were a bit better compared to last week, the price of PMS has remained above the regulated N87 pump price at the filling stations in many cities across the country.

It was also gathered that despite the hardship motorists go through before buying the product, transport fares within Abuja have not been affected significantly.

PMS truck out data for the weekend released by the NNPC yesterday showed that over 2.6 m litres of petrol were dispatched from its Suleja Depot to Abuja filling stations and environs.

More than 1.7m litres was dispatched from Kaduna Depot while 4.6 m litres was trucked out from Kano Depot and 115,997 was dispatched from Minna Depot. While the Gusau Depot   supplied 1.4m litres, Gombe Area   dispatched 335,998.00 litres of PMS to filling stations within Gombe.

For the South West region, Mosimi Depot  supplied 2.1m litres, the Satelite Depot 688,280 litres,  Ilorin Depot  435,985; Ore Depot 589,000.00, Ibadan Depot        451,004.

For the South-South and Eastern regions Benin Depot   supplied   526,003; Warri Depot  526,003; Port Harcourt Depot  3.0m litres; Aba Depot 605,987.00 while the Makurdi Depot  supplied 1.4m litres to filling stations to mostly Otukpo, Gboko and  neighbouring North-Central States.

Naira Hits 242 as CBN Cuts Dollar Supply

The naira fell to 242 against the United States dollar at the parallel market on Monday after the Central Bank of Nigeria cut dollar supply to Bureaux de Change operators in a bid to conserve the external reserves.

The naira, which traded at 238 against the dollar on the streets of the nation’s major cities on Friday, depreciated considerably as demand overwhelmed supply at the black market and the BDC segment on Monday.

For some weeks, the naira had traded between 230 and 234 to the dollar at the parallel market.

The local currency has, however, remained unchanged at 197 to the dollar on the official interbank market.

Foreign exchange dealers told our correspondent on Monday that the CBN suspended its weekly intervention in the BDC segment on Thursday.

The CBN sells $60,000 to each BDC operators in its twice-weekly intervention in that segment and is expected to save about $180m every week when it eventually stops dollar sale intervention to the BDCs.

“The central bank has reduced the amount of dollar sold to bureaux de change at its twice-weekly intervention, which has also been cut to once a week now,” a BDC operator, Harrison Owoh, told Reuters

He said the reduction in volume of dollar sale by the central bank coupled with year-end surge in demand for foreign currencies by importers had impacted negatively on the local currency.

The President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, confirmed the development.

He said the central bank had announced last Thursday its decision not to intervene in the BDC market on Friday.

Central Bank of Nigeria reduces rates for first time in six years

The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced a reduction in its benchmark interest rate to 11 percent from 13 percent on Tuesday, its first reduction in the headline cost of borrowing in more than six years.

Governor Godwin Emefiele said members of the bank's monetary policy committee had voted by a margin of eight to two in favour of the reduction.

"We must stimulate growth," Emefiele said, adding that the bank's monetary tightening cycle was over.

The bank's monetary policy committee also decided to cut the cash reserve ratio to 20 percent from 25 percent, Emefiele said.

It also broadened its interest rate corridor to 200 basis points above the benchmark rate and 700 basis points below, which means that it will borrow from commercial lenders at 4 percent and lend to them at 13 percent.

The central bank has been injecting cash into the banking system since October in a bid to ease liquidity and stave off recession in Africa's top oil producer, which has been hit hard by the sharp fall in crude prices over the last year.

Emefiele said some banks seemed to be using the funds to invest in bonds rather than lending to households and businesses which meant September's cut in the cash reserve ratio had not stimulated more lending.

5 ships laden with petroleum products, foods arrive at Lagos

Five ships laden with petroleum products and foods have arrived Lagos ports, waiting to berth, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said on Tuesday in Lagos.

NPA stated this in a document, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The document stated that the contents of the ships were petrol, diesel, crude palm oil and rice.

NPA noted that 36 other ships would sail into the ports with various consignments from Nov. 24 to Dec. 18.

The consignments are petrol, diesel, crude palm oil, rice, bulk gypsum, general cargo, containers, bulk salt, bulk sugar, steel products and buck wheat.

NAN reports that 14 other ships are at the ports, discharging buck wheat, bulk fertilizer, general cargo, soda ash, containers, bulk gypsum, bulk sugar, petrol and bulk gas.

Over 400,000 jobs created in third quarter – NBS

Latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that a total of 475,180 new jobs were created in the third quarter of 2015.

In its third quarter survey, the NBS explained that this represents an increase of 236.1 per cent, compared with the previous quarter, and 36 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2014.

According to the Bureau, the increase in the number of jobs was driven mainly by informal sector jobs, which accounted for 90.2 per cent.
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The labour force population increased to 75.9 million from 74 million in the second quater, representing an increase in the labour force by 2.60 per cent.

It was followed by formal sector jobs, which accounted for 8.8 per cent, while the public sector generated 4,818 jobs, representing 1.01 per cent of jobs in the period under review.

The informal sector accounted for over 90 per cent of total jobs in the third quater, and were predominantly in rural agricultural activities.
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BVN: Weekly Forex sale to BDCs falls by $100m

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that the  introduction of the Biometric Verification Number (BVN) has led to reduction in the weekly sale of foreign exchange to bureaux de change by $100 million.

CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, disclosed this weekend while speaking at the annual dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

The CBN on October 22 directed that from November 1, 2015, the BVN will be used as criteria for foreign exchange transaction by BDCs and banks.

This made it illegal for BDCs and banks to sell foreign exchange to anybody without submission and verification of the BVN.

Speaking on the impact of this policy on the weekly foreign exchange sales to BDCs, Emefiele said: “While it may be too soon to completely adjudicate on the merits of our policies, preliminary signs indicate that we are headed to the right direction as a people.

“For example, we have managed to attain stability in the exchange rate at about N197/$1 since February 2015, although some are not happy with us for that action. Most speculators and rent-seekers have been eliminated from the forex market.

Forex reserves decline by $7b in one year

The nation’s gross foreign reserves has settled at $30.4 billion from $37.4 billion a year earlier, after it lost $7 billion to both speculative attacks and deliberate efforts by the monetary authority to defend the value of the local unit.

The development represents 18.7 per cent decline in the aggregate foreign exchange reserves, which has sustained a sliding profile in the last two years and recently in back and forth movement.

Reserves help any country’s central bank to intervene against volatile fluctuations in currency by its impact on the exchange rate and increasing the demand for and value of the country’s currency.

It also acts as a shock absorber against factors that can negatively affect a country’s exchange rates and, therefore, the central bank uses reserves to help maintain a steady rate.

Nigeria’s reserves levels have been in continuous flux and aggravated with worsening price of crude oil in the international market, the country’s major foreign exchange earner.

Already, analysts are divided on the need to devalue the country’s currency given its depreciating value blamed on inadequate reserves, although many are still admire the capital control measure of the Central Bank of Nigeria in an effort to combat the local unit’s value.