HENATES

Nigerian, Nairobi and Ghana stock markets closed once again down without exception on Thursday August 30, 2018. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE: At the Nigerian stock exchange, the All share index declined by 0.77% to 35,086.67 from Wednesday's 35,358.94 as once again more price drops than gains were recorded. This time only Guinness Nigeria witnessed above  N1 per share gain while all top 5 drops were equal or above N1. Guinness lone ranged with N5 or 5.5% per share gain accompanied by 61 deals struck for 3.5m shares worth N334.2m. On its trail from quite a distance was NEM Insurance with N0.30 or 10% per share for 36 deals involving 2nd day high 45.25m shares worth N131.65m. Incidentally, the same NEM paced traded volume with 180.05m shares offload without a change on Wednesday, August 29. The price losers were led by La Farge Africa, down N1.8 or 7.06% per share as 53 deals for 0.586m shares worth N13.978m were sealed. It was followed by Forte Oil down N1.7 or 7.83% per share; Stanbic I...

At the markets monitored daily by Henates on Wednesday August 29, 2018, it was looking like the race has begun to determine who will go down faster. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE At the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the All share index resumed  downwards after the relief of Wednesday rally. It dropped by 0.44% to 35,358.94. This was as price drops far outnumbered gains and also the recorded higher margins as well. Only 2 price gains were above N1 per share  compared to top 4 price drops. Total Nigeria led gainers with N2 or 1.05% top up to close at N192 per share its day high after a low of N189 and in contrast to previous day's N190 per share.  Total ended with 32 deals for 0.34m shares worth N65.388m. It was followed by PZ Cussons as it gained N1 or 7.14% to record 24 deals involving 0.196m shares valued at N2.857m. On the other hand, Flour Mills topped price drops with N1.75 or 7.06% per share as it found and closed N23.05 compared to N24.5 per share previously. It recorded 53 deals which ...

Nigeria's foreign reserves has finally dropped below $46bn as it stood at $45.989bn last Monday August 27, according to figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria. This means that between July 4 this year when it hit a high of $47.798bn, and last Monday, it declined by $1.809bn or 3.78% in less than 2 months. It fell into $46bn range on August 6, and sliced down further each working day to finally close at the $45bn range last Monday. The figure though is still $14.227bn higher than the level about a year ago on August 26, 2017. However, at the peak of July 2, this year, the gap was $16.18bn or more than 50% of , August 26 2017's $31.761bn. The reserve position had improved rapidly at the beginning of this year especially in March when it  crossed from $42bn range in March 5 then into 44bn by the 12 the and 45bn by the 19th. It finally crossed into $47bn on April 16, this year. The rate of decline could most likely increase in the days ahead because it looks like the div...

At the Nairobi,  Nigerian and Ghana Stock Markets on Tuesday August 28 it was a case of about turn on Monday trend. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE: The Nigerian Stock Exchange once again on Tuesday August 28 2018 reversed direction as the All share Index closed up by 0.58% to 35,516.21 as many hitherto very active companies closed firm. Hence the ASI closed up more because margin of gains recorded were well ahead of drops. The top price decrease was N1 or 6.67% per share recorded in GlaxoSmithkline as it found and closed at N14 per share compared to N15 on Monday. This was accompanied by 18 deals for 0.121m shares worth N1.738m and all other price drops were below  N1 per share. Total  Nigeria, on the other hand, led gainers with N9 or 4.97% per share closing at day high  N190 per share as against N181 on Monday. This was as it recorded 27 deals involving 0.513m shares worth N93.246n. Total also paced gains on Monday at the end of it, Dangote  Cement decisively helped the ASI  down by sheddin...

At the 3 stock markets monitored by Henates it was a case of decline Monday except at Ghana Stock Exchange where growth occurred in composite index but not in trade. GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE: At the Ghana Stock Exchange the last week in August took off with 3.81 points or 0.13% growth in the Composite index to 2943.67 from Friday's 2939.83. This was as 4 price gains and one drop were recorded with margins that hinted at better prospects and expectations. Top of the bill was Total Ghana's GHs 0.09 per share gain to record deals for just 200 shares at GHs 4.60 per share after closing Friday at GHs 4.51 per share. More deals could have been struck but offer price further rose to GHs 5.11 per share. Other gains were Standard Chartered bank's GHs 0.04 per share rise as 510 shares changed hands at GHs 26.15 per share; Ghana Commercial bank's top up with GHs 0.03 per share as 10,700 units were sold and Societe Generale's GHs 0.01 per share increase accompanied by deals for 25,...

Growth in Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed down to 1.50% in the 2nd quarter to June 2018 compared to 1.95% in 1st Quarter, says the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). According figures released today August 27, 2018 by the NBS, the good news though was that for the first time since the 2016 recession, growth rate was driven by the non-oil sector. To boot, the slow down, though not encouraging was still more than double the 0.72% growth rate recorded in the 2nd quarter of 2017 when the economy was just starting out on the slow recovery from recession. The NBS says that within Q2 2018 the non-oil sector grew by 2.05% the strongest it had ever grown since the recession.  In Q1 2016 this sector had shrunk by 0.18% followed by more shrinking by 0.38% in Q2 of same year. However, in the 3rd quarter of same 2016,it grew by 0.03% but shrunk again by 0.33% in 4th quarter. Throughout 2017, adds the NBS, non-oil GDP shrunk only in Q3 (-0.76%) and grew by 0.72% in that year'...

Soon, triple A rated companies in Nigeria and others involved in sectors considered critical to be employment generating and growth stimulating will access long term loans at maximum of 9 % per annum. According to the Central Bank of Nigeria in guidelines for the scheme released on Thursday August 23, 2018, it will be executed under two facilities: Banks accessing their cash reserves with the CBN to extend the credit and companies that qualify issuing corporate bonds the CBN and the public will subscribe to. Both facilities will carry maximum of 9% interest or coupon; have not less than 7 years tenor and also have moratorium not less than 2 years  According to the CBN, at the July Monetary Policy Committee meeting of the apex bank, it was decided that credit be deliberated be made available to these companies at affordable rates and on long term basis. Hence, through the new scheme, says the CBN " Deposit Money Banks will henceforth be incentivised to direct affordable long term c...

At the Ghana Stock Exchange last week ended August 24, 2018, number of gainers (8) and price losers (7) almost evened out at 7 but the Composite index eased slightly by 0.1% to 2938.86. It was a 4 day week and the GCI closed down in 3 trading days rising only on Wednesday August 22, from Monday's 2941.03 to 2944.87, the week's high. On Friday, 6 price changes were recorded, 4 being drops paced by GHs 0.02 per share drop in Guinness Ghana as it rose after deals were struck at GHs 2.48 per share for 1100 shares. GGBL opened at GHs 2.48 per share and after the deals, it closed at GHs 2.50 per share. However, offer price closed back at opening price but no more deals were recorded. Top gain on Friday was recorded by Standard Chartered Bank as deals were sealed at GHs 26.50 per share before it closed at GHs 26.11 from GHs 26.0 previously. Friday's traded volume was 548,790 shares which turned out to be all week daily high followed by Wednesday's 379,144 units. Top 5 by volum...

For the first time in 3 consecutive weeks, the All share index at the Nigerian stock exchange closed up by 0.45% but, don't be carried away, its an exception that confirms the rule. Being a product of weighted figures in a basket, the All share index should, by norm, should reflect the mood of the market as far as pricing is concerned. But alas, 45 price drops and 15 price gains were recorded at the market last week but the All share index at 35426.21 closed up by 0.45% on previous week's close. Of course, the ASI grew because market capitalisation rose by about the same % and that's normal, the exception that confirms this is that it was all due to N15 per share increase in the price of Dangote Cement. This was a solo gain of sorts because nearest to it was Nearest Air Service's N0.85 per share gain. In contrast, of the 45 price losers, Total Nigeria paced with N5.40 per share followed by Okomu Oil, up N3.35 per share and International Breweries with N3.20 per share ga...

At Nairobi Securities Exchange last week ended yesterday August 24, 2018, the All share index closed down daily all through the 4 day week to end at 172.98, about 1.31% lower that previous week's close. It closed the previous week at 174.59; started the week down at 174.31 on Monday then dived some what to 173.86 on Wednesday, after Tuesday holiday. Come Thursday, it eased gently again to 173.31 before another dive on Friday. All through there were far more price drops than gains capping with 31 gains and 10 price drops yesterday. Top gain on Friday was by Diamond Trust Bank, up Ksh 7 per share followed by Stanbic Holdings with Ksh 6 per share top up. Crown Paints paced price losers with Ksh 5 per share trailed by East African Breweries, down Ksh 4 per share and Standard Group which eased by Ksh 3 per share. Being a four day week, comparison with previous 5 day week may not be ideal buy at 59.766m shares valued at Ksh 1.838bn, trading was below previous wee...

As all 3 monitored stock markets opened doors on Thursday, August 23, 2018, the Ghana Stock Exchange composite index eased by 0.008% to 2944.62 but Nigerian and Nairobi stock exchanges dived or rose more remarkably. GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE: The low drop for the GCI at the Ghana stock Exchange composite index occurred as two price drops and just one gain made up recorded price changes. Lead drop price change in cedi terms was Total Ghana's GHs 0.11 per share as it recorded deals for 4700 shares at GHs 4.52 per share but went on to close at GHs 4.51 per share, up on GHs 4.40 the previous day. Interestingly, by the close of day more deals could not be struck  because bid price stayed at GHs 4.52 per share while offer price moved up ambitiously to GHs 5.05 per share. In contrast, drops by both Fan Milk and Aluworks amounted to GHs 0.11 as well with FML going down GHs 0.10 per share to record deals for leading 150,000 shares at GHs 13.60 per share and ALW dropping GHs 0.01 per share as 44,...

With Nigeria still on holiday, the Nairobi and Ghana stock Markets in opposite directions on Wednesday August 22 2018 as far as all market index was concerned. NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE: At the Nairobi stock market, the All share index closed down 0.35 points at 173.86 as 13 price gains and 20 drops were recorded. It has also shed 0.28 points on Monday at the start of the week before Kenya observed the Muslim holiday on Tuesday alone. The day's price changes were marginal though with Nation Media leading gainers with Ksh 1.50 per share increase as it touched and closed at Ksh 89 per share as against Ksh 87.50 on Monday. It was followed with Ksh 1.30 per share gain by WPP Scan Group while recording rare traded volume. It closed at day high of Ksh 16.50 per share after touching a low of Ksh 15 per share while deals were struck for 4.003m shares worth Ksh 66m. Other major price gains were Ksh 1 per share each by Sasini; Williamson Tea, Standard Chartered Bank and Bamburi Cement. On ...

When next the monetary policy committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria meets, the issue of double digit benchmark interest rate may still dominate discussions. This is because, according to Q2 figures released recently by the National Bureau of Statistics, capital importation into is still dominated by high interest rate ability to attract money market funds from outside Nigeria. Yet, says the NBS, decline in the Q2 money market funds inflow dragged total capital inflow down during the period. First, the total capital imported into the country was $5513.55m during Q2 this year, down 12.53% on the figure for Q1 ($6303.63m) On their own, the main source of this inflow remained money market instruments which in Q1 and Q2 accounted for 56% and 48.4% respectively. Now, after hitting quarterly high since 2016 in Q1 (3527.60m) inflow for money market dropped to $2670.93m in Q2 to June this year. And it was a continuous drop from $1233.3m for April, to $864.94m in May and $572.66m in June. Thi...

From September ending this year, African Champion Industries plc will not be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange any more.  Reason? It will be removed from the list of quoted companies of the exchange compulsorily by the exchange because, says the exchange, the financial position of the company is deemed significantly threatened. According to an official statement from the exchange, in 2017 trading in the shares of the company was suspended  for not holding annual general meeting  and submitting its accounts on schedule. The suspension was eventually lifted after these deficiencies were corrected but the gross of the exchange now is that African Champion lapsed back into the same situation again within such a short time. From the figures released to the market, adds the exchange, ACI reported a loss of GHs 650,601 in 2016 and net profitvof GHs 2.214m in 2017. But in the 1st and 2nd quarters of this year GHs 291,973 and 334,476 losses were recorded. African Champion manufactures toilet r...

At the three African stock markets currently reviewed by Henates daily, one common denominator was the inability of the majority of price changes to effectively determine trend for the All share index except for Nigerian? NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE: At the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the question mark came because there was a slight mix up of change direction for Dangote Cement in the official release by the market on Monday 20 August 2018. Dangote Cement's price per share was put at N215 per share but this should amount to N5 per share drop on Friday's N220 per share. However, the snapshot on the homepage of the market online and the price list inside the site all say Dangote Cement led gains with N9.5 or 4..32% per share. Any how, the daily official list confirms the N215 price making Dangote Cement leading price drops not gains for the day as stated too in the gainers and losers chart also released by the exchange. Hence, should Dangote Cement be truly down and not up, then the Al...

At the Nairobi stock market last week ended Friday August 17, 2018 traded volume increased by 12.6% to 66.143m shares from 58.737m the previous week but traded value grew by 55.9% to Ksh 2.709bn from Ksh 1.737bn and number of deals struck increased  2.77% to 5840. However, the All share index went down 0.14% to 173.51 mainly because of a major decline that occurred on Thursday when it closed at 173.95, from Wednesday's 174.71 It was more like down today, up tomorrow for the ASI through the week starting on Monday with decline to 173.51 from Friday's 174.84 followed by Tuesday's recovery to 174.48 then a breather to 174.71 on Wednesday before the plunge on Thursday. The all decline would have been higher but for 0.64 points recovery on Friday even as price losers (17) outnumbered gainers (15). The Friday growth in ASI was engendered by leading Ksh 3 per share rise in BOC Kenya's share price and endorsed as Safaricom closed Ksh 0.25 per share up while price losers were le...

At the Nigerian Stock Exchange last week ended Friday August 17, 2018, all indicators except the All share index closed upwards compared to previous week. Traded volume rose by 23.8% to 1146.316m from 925.628m shares previously; traded value rose 50.5% to N12,545.588m from N8,333.97m and number if deals sealed increased by 8.36% to 16,649 from 15,365. But alas, it was a very cautious price making week with most price changes headed down. All week price drops came to 56 compared to only 16 gains. In the end, the All share index eased by 0.51% to 35,410.61 from 35,446.47 by close of previous week. Indeed, it would have dropped at a higher rate but for the breather on Friday that came from 1.87% recovery from Thursday year low to the final 35,266.29.  The ASI had actually crossed into 34,000 range on Thursday (34,618.43) after daily downwards pressure sustained all through the previous week and punctuated only by Friday. The breather on Friday was mainly as Dangote Cement gained N14 or 6....

At the Ghana Stock Exchange last trading week ended August 17,2018, traded volume was up 19.1% but the Composite Index which reflects price movement across the market was down 0.05%. For the index, the whole week was virtually spent trying to recover from take off drop on Monday as the GCI dropped to 2897.67 from previous Friday's 2944.38. On Tuesday, it started the path out of this week low by closing at 2905.57 then rose sharply on Wednesday to 2933.39 before barely topping more to end Thursday at 2934.39 Because of the size and still very shallow nature of the market since it is very much still emerging, leaps and dips in the index are easily dictated by price changes in one or two companies especially in the mining and banking sector. Incidentally, that equally makes it easier to study, understand and make money from. No day recorded great leaps in above 1m shares in traded volume but many days with above average total made a difference. Hence all week volume came to 2,033,074 ...

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria, the number of times e-payment was resorted to in Nigeria rose significantly by 60% in 2017 compared to 2016. In its Annual report for 2017 released last Thursday, the number was 1,478.5m in 2017 compared to only 941 in 2016. However, the value of the e-payment transactions through the year grew by only 39.7% to N99,292.3 bn from 2016's N71,100bn. The bulk of the volume, 54.15% was through the ATM which confirms the almost compulsory encouragement of all customers to withdraw money through that medium. It also accounted too for the lower % growth in value since ATM withdrawals naturally come in smaller bits from more financially included poor and average income earners. In terms of value, though, the bulk or 56.67% was through NIP the local interbank transfer platform followed by NEFT for external transfers (15.05%) and Remita (13.63%).  The value of payments through the ATM with all its dominant volume was only 6.48% of the total value. Mea...

The Central Bank of Nigeria says that attempt to defraud banks in Nigeria increased by 28.2% in 2017 when compared to 2016. According to the 2017 Annual Report released this week, 25,043 frauds were attempted in 2017 compared to 19,531 in 2016. However, the value of the attempted fraud decline slightly within the year. It dropped to N4.034bn from 2016's N4.368bn. This represents 7.65% drop and implies that fraudsters were less daring in 2017. In the same vein, says the CBN, actual fraud value dropped by 25.7% in 2017 to N1.631bn compared to N2.196bn in 2016. One of the measures introduced to help reduce fraud in the system was the Bank Verification Number (BVN) introduced under which banks were given December 2016 to link all customers accounts to their BVN or resort to "Post no debit". They were also expected to by that date to correct invalid BVNs or delinked them and correct any BVN platform and core banking application mismatch by then. According to the CBN, the follo...

On Thursday August 16, 2018, the Ghana Stock continued to bounce well but Nigerian and Nairobi slowed down. GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE: After recovering from a major drop on Monday, August 13, the Composite index at the Ghana stock exchange recovered to 2905.57 on Tuesday then took a leap of 28.33 points or 0.98% to 2933.9 on Wednesday. By Thursday close, the climb continued but not as fast it was on Wednesday. In fact, lone ranging price change by Ghana Commercial Bank pushed it upwards to 2934.39, up 0.02% or 0.49 points. GCB had recorded deals for only 700 units but at GHs 5.19 per share, up GHs 0.01 per share. Offer price did close the day further up at GHs 5.21 per share no takers because bid stayed firm at the new price. Number of listed companies were few bit traded volume scaled Wednesday's 518,151 shares to close at 540,270 units. The bulk of the day's trade was in Fan Milk as 460,000 of its shares were trades at GHs 13.7 per share thus closing firm on Wednesday's level....

At both Nigerian and Nairobi stock markets on Wednesday August 15, 2018, it was clearly a case of tug of war between heavyweights to determine the direction of the All share index. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE: At the Nigerian Stock Exchange, it was an easy win for top priced Nestle Nigeria as it tumbled N60 or 9.68% per share. As a result, the All share index dropped yet again , this time by 0.62% to new year low, 35,069.34. Nestle had found and closed at N1500 compared to N1560 the previous day while recording 61 deals for 0.081m shares worth N122.313m. But Total Nigeria did try a solo amongst price gainers to apply pressure on the ASI upwards. It also found and closed at N190 per share from N185, up N5 or 2.7% per share to witness 18 deals involving 0.122m units valued at N23.23m. Besides these two leading price changes, all others recorded on Wednesday were below N1 per share. However, there was improvement in trading activities with traded volume closing at 209.54m shares as against 16...

According to Consumer Price index released today by the National Bureau of Statistics, inflation rate in Nigeria dropped for the 8th consecutive month in July 2018 to 11.14% compared to 16.05% in July 2017. However, this remains a long way from all time low of 7.7% recorded in February 2014 although below the 11.38% with which it crossed into double digit in February 2016. All through two years plus it has remained at double digit and its longest single digit run was from January 2013 to January 2016. In July, says the NBS, month on month inflation rate declined for the first time since February this year closing the month at 1.13% compared to 1.24% in June. Composite food index rose at higher rate to the CPI though recording 10th consecutive month of decline at 12.85% in July as against 12.98% in June. The pressure, says NBS was mainly from growth in the prices of potatoes, yam and other tubers, vegetables, bread and cereals , fish, oils & fats and fruits, incidentally many of the...

On Tuesday, the Nigerian Stock Market still headed down while Nairobi and Ghana were looking up. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE: The cloud over the Nigerian Stock Exchange all through last week still refused to go away and for the second day Tuesday August 14, expectations were not rosy. The All share index declined by 0.35% to 35,288.13 as if the new all year low slide was not in a hurry to find a bottom. International Breweries led price gains with a solo rise by above N1 per share. It gained N1.45 or 5.23% per share while witnessing 19 deals for 3.511m shares valued at N113.63m. International Breweries had closed Monday at N33.45 per share, hit another day low at N32 before ending the day at N35.2 per share. NASCON Industries trailed with N0.55 or 2.76% rise as 69 deals for 1.647m shares worth N32.60m. At the front of price drops was Flour Mills down N2 or 8.33% per share as 114 deals were struck involving 2.175m shares worth N50.167m. Flour Mills had ende...