April 4, 2016/The Nation

By Collins Nweze

Foreign investors repatriating profits and others exiting the Nigeria equities and bond markets last week triggered a rise in foreign exchange (forex) disbursement by leading banks.

Many of the investors, after liquidating their investments, secured forex to repatriate their funds through Stanbic IBTC Bank. The lender disbursed $19,305,571.50 to 68 customers,   according to published disbursement data for last week.

JPM London secured $3,331,564.24 from Stanbic IBTC for its divestment of equities and Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bonds. There was also $2,010,690.01 disbursed to State Street/Stanbic Nominees-E by the lender for the same purpose.

BP2S/BNP Pribas obtained $130,167.61; Standard Bank of South Africa, $541,671.31; Merrill Lynch International $63, 767.89; HSBC Funds Services London, $394,210.30; and The Bank of New York Mellon 2, $206,317.82.

The foreign investors have been pressurising the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to devalue the naira, which it has vehemently resisted. Last week’s repatriation of investments is expected to continue in the months ahead as the margin between the official exchange rates has continued to widen.

The naira/dollar exchange rate remained unchanged at N197 to dollar at the CBN and N199.50/US$1 at the interbank market. At the Bureau-De-Change, the naira appreciated against the dollar marginally on all trading days of last week, with the Naira/Dollar rate trending lower from N322.00/$1 on Tuesday (appreciating N1 from Thursday) to close at N320/$1.00 on Friday. The parallel market was also stable as Naira/Dollar traded for N323/$1 on all trading days save for Wednesday when it rose marginally to N324.00/$1.

Stanbic IBTC also disbursed $6 million in three tranches to Rain Oil for the importation of petroleum products and $1,082,440.37 to GZ Industries Limited for aluminum coils import and $100,000 in Personal Travel Allowances (PTAs) to 25 customers.

Diamond Bank led other lenders with $20,084,368 disbursed to 222 customers, mainly for school fees payment, PTAs and importation of petroleum products.

Zenith Bank Plc disbursed $13, 107,525.71 to 362 customers. The lender disbursed $3,646,399.15 to Tiger Branded Consumer for Canadian Milling Wheat. Virgin Atlantic got $1 million for air ticket sales remittance.

Oando Marketing secured $360,000 in two tranches for importation of petroleum products. The bank also made disbursements to Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc; Sonia Foods Industries Limited; Emerging Markets Telecom Services; Boulous Enterprises Limited; Honeywell Flour Mills Plc. There were several Personal Travel Allowances (PTAs), among others.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc also disbursed forex to 242 customers. Some of the big beneficiaries are: Total and Eterna Oil which accessed $1,201,649.61 and $1, 449,358.03 restively. The lender also funded $1 million remittance tickets for IATA and several other transactions for school fees payment.

FirstBank disbursed $6 million in two tranches to Gulf Treasures Limited for the importation of petroleum products. There was also $1.943,612.48 disbursed to Elephant Group Limited for NPK -15-15-15 bulk importation. The bank also disbursed to customers for the payment of school fees and PTAs.

Other lenders that got forex are Diamond Bank, GTBank, First City Monument Bank, Wema Bank.

The funds were sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and sold to the beneficiary customers at the official rate of N197.50 to dollar. The beneficiaries used the funds for the importation of goods, services and other items that fall within the CBN-stipulated import approval list.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele has consistently assured stakeholders that the country will continue to meet financial obligations to foreign investors and her international trading partners.

The weekly publications on forex utilisation are meant to promote transparency and accountability on the side of the lenders, which act as a link between the regulator and the forex users.

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By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) posted a five-day rally as the all-share index (ASI) and market capitalisation gained 5.05 percent to close the week at 24,689.69 basis points and N8.491 trillion respectively.

The rally was as a result  of the performance in the Financial Services Industry which  (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.252 billion shares valued at N7.169 billion traded in 8,451 deals; thus contributing 88.98 percent and 41.49 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The Oil and Gas Industry followed with 50.714 million shares worth N5.338 billion in 1,520 deals and the third position was occupied by the Consumer Goods Industry with a turnover of 37.534 million shares worth N3.117 billion in 2,473 deals.

Similarly, all other Indices finished higher during the week, with the exception of the NSE Banking Index, NSE Insurance Index and the NSE Consumer Goods Index that depreciated by 1.14 percent, 1.28 percent and 0.15 percent respectively, while the NSE ASeM index closed flat, according to the Exchange’s weekly stock market report.

The NSE’s weekly update reports that at the close of trading on the Nigerian equities market, a turnover of 1.407 billion shares worth N17.277 billion in 14,914 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of local bourse compared to a total of 5.087 billion shares valued at N18.488 billion that exchanged hands last week in 16,711 deals.

The report affirmed that trading in the shares of lenders, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, FCMB Group Plc and Wema Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 667.292 million shares worth N4.256 billion in 2,114 deals, contributing 47.44 percent and 24.63 percent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Also traded during the week according to the NSE’s report, were a total of 115,641 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N1.285 million executed in 28 deals, compared with a total of 34,089 units valued at N604, 908.34 transacted last week in 34 deals.

On bonds, a total of 39,340 units of both State (1) and Federal Government bonds (2) valued at N44.246 million were traded in three (3) deals, compared with a total of 4,190 units valued at N4.884 million transacted last week in five (5) deals.

A summary of price changes in the review eek shows that 26 equities gained in price during the week, lower than 30 posted the past week. On the contrary, 30 equities lost in price, lower than 40 reported the previous week, while 134 equities remained unchanged, higher than 120 recorded last week.

Click to download the NSE’s weekly market report for the period ended February 12, 2016

The post Banks Lead NSE to 5-Day Rally, Gains 5.05% to Close Week appeared first on Investadvocate.

By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigerian stocks on Tuesday shed a marginal 0.42 percent to extend a seven-day bearish streak as all–share index (ASI) closed at 22,456.32 points.

At the close of trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) market capitalisation dipped by N32.5 billion to N7.72 trillion, bringing the Month and Year-to-Date losses each to 21.60 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.

The report says three (3) of the five (5) NSE sector indices gained. It said the Industrial Goods and Banking indices led the gainers chart with gains of 0.82 percent and 0.54 percent respectively; following price increases in the shares of cement producer, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc and Nigeria’s top tier lender, Zenith Bank Plc ; both gaining 2.17 percent and 6.11 percent respectively.

According to Cordros, the Insurance index also strengthened marginally 0.31 percent on the back of gains recorded in the shares of insurers NEM Insurance Plc and Continental Re-Insurance Plc by 8.62 percent and 4.35 percent respectively.

On the contrary, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices declined 2.23 percent and 1.70 percent according dragged by losses reported in the shares of beverage maker, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and brewer, Guinness Nigeria Plc going down by 5.06 percent and 9.61 percent respectively; while first listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and Mobile Nigeria Plc dipped by 5.00 percent respectively.

The NSE closed business on Tuesday with market breadth sustaining a slightly negative posture, posting 24 gainers and 27 losers. Beer maker, International Breweries Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of N1.40 kobo per share; while Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of N3.02 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the local bourse increased by 30.66 percent to close at 256.44 million shares, valued at N1.97 billion, in 4,731 total deals.

“In addition to the significant improvement in market breadth (as stated above), the market lost by its smallest margin in 8 days, signifying a rebound in market sentiments. We expect optimism to increase tomorrow, especially as Brent crude posted its strongest daily gains in four months,” the Cordros update affirmed.

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