NSE opens on downward note as All-Share Index drops 2.06 per cent

Equity transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reopened after the New Year holiday on a downward note as the All-Share Index depreciated by 713.86 points.

The Index dropped by 2.06 per cent to close at 33,943.29 in contrast to 34,657.15 achieved on December 31.

The market capitalisation, which opened at N11.477 trillion, declined by N240 billion to close at N11.237 trillion.

A volume of 299.410 million shares worth N5.46 billion were traded in 3,803 deals.

41 ships laden with foods, petroleum products expected in Lagos

Forty one ships laden with containers, foods, petroleum products and other goods would arrive Lagos ports from Jan. 5 to Jan. 20.

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said in its daily publication – `Shipping Position’ – made available to newsmen on Monday in Lagos, that 22 of the expected ships would arrive with containers of different goods.

It stated that five other ships were expected to arrive with petroleum products like petrol and diesel, while four different ships would bring in fresh fish.

The document stated that the remaining 10 ships would arrive with vehicles, buckwheat, bulk charcoal, bulk salt, bulk ethanol, bulk rice and general cargo.

It further indicated that 10 other ships had already arrived the ports, waiting to berth with food items such as; bulk rice, fresh fish and bulk fertiliser.

It explained that nine other ships containing various petroleum products were also waiting to berth at the various oil terminals in the ports.

The document stated that seven of the nine ships contain petrol, while the remaining two would berth with base oil and Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO).

It noted that 22 other ships were discharging buckwheat, general cargo, fresh fish, bulk fertiliser, containers, bulk sugar, bulk gypsum and petroleum products.

Cameroon to issue $582 million in debt in 2015

Cameroon plans to raise some 320 billion CFA francs ($582 million) through treasury bills and medium-term bonds in 2015 to finance infrastructure projects in the Central African state, the finance ministry said on Monday.

The total issuance is 14 percent higher than the 280 billion CFA francs issued in 2014.

The government said in November that it plans to increase spending by 13 percent this year to boost growth in an economy which produces cocoa, oil and timber.

Gross domestic product is expected to accelerate to 6.3 percent in 2015 from 5.8 percent last year according to budgetary projections.

Euro slides to 9-year low; Asia shares and oil wobble

The euro hit a nearly nine-year low versus the dollar on Monday as investors bet on quantitative easing by the European Central Bank while soft manufacturing surveys pushed down shares and sent oil prices to 5 1/2-year lows.

European shares are expected to dip, with Britain's FTSE seen falling by up to 0.4 percent. Germany's DAX and France's CAC are both seen falling as much as 0.2 percent.

The euro fell to as low as $1.18605, its weakest level since March 2006, having fallen below an important support at $1.20. The common currency last traded at $1.1926, down 0.6 percent from late U.S. trade on Friday.

Economists forecast that Wednesday's euro zone inflation data will show that in December prices fell 0.1 percent, the first decline since 2009.

That should fan expectations the ECB could ease its policy as soon as Jan. 22, when it holds its first policy meeting this year.

Ivorian cocoa arrivals seen at 820,000 T Jan. 4: Exporters

Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached around 820,000 tonnes by January 4 since the start of the season on October 1, exporters estimated on Monday, down from 954,000 tonnes in the same period of the previous season.

Exporters estimated around 16,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African state's two ports of Abidjan and San Pedro between January 1 to 4, down from 28,000 tonnes during the same period last year.

Nigerian naira, shares start year down around 2 pct each

 

The Nigerian naira opened 1.9 percent down on its 2014 close at 185 to the dollar on Monday, Thomson Reuters data showed.

The all-share index opened down 2 percent at 33961.42 on the first day of trading this year. (Reporting by Tim Cocks)

FG to commence work on three coal power plants

There are indications that the Federal Government may commence work at three coal-fired power plants located across the country in 2015.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo who disclosed this did not give specific details, but it is believed that the coal power plants could include the 3000 megawatts (MW) plant that is being developed by Zuma Pow­er in Kogi state and the 1000MW plant expected to be built by At­las Petroleum Corporation in Enugu state.

The federal government hint­ed that about 2.8 billion metric tonnes of coal deposits have been left untapped for years now in Nigeria.

It has been canvassed that the use of these coal deposits, amongst other renewable en­ergy sources such as biomass, solar, wind and small hydro to generate electricity for Nigeria can reduce instances of van­dalism of petroleum pipelines which supply gas to thermal power plants.

The Power Minister clari­fied that balancing Nigeria’s reliance on thermal generated electricity with other sources of electricity like solar, biomass, wind and other sustainable al­ternative sources has been a daunting challenge confronting the country.

According to him, selling the potentials in other alternative sources of energy to Nigerians was becoming a difficult task to accomplish and urged that such messages be taken to rural parts of Nigeria.