HENATES

Last week ended Friday September 28, 2018 was an all round positive one for Nairobi Securities Exchange as all major indicators closed up. The All share index closed Friday at 149.67 up 3.18 points or 2.19% on the previous week's close, traded volume had grown by 22.2% to 126.718m shares triggering 50.7% hike in traded value to Ksh4.134bn compared to previous week's Ksh 2.743bn. Even number of deals struck grew too by 1.13% to 6978 from 6268 and traded value at the bond market rose to Ksh 11bn from Ksh 10bn previously. The All share index had started the week on Monday at 149.35, up strongly on previous Friday's 145.49 then eased slightly to 149.05 and rallied the next 2 days to 150.60 by Thursday  Traded volume and value also hit all week peak on Monday with 41.899m shares traded for Ksh 1.175bn followed in volume terms by Thursday's 25.02m shares worth Ksh 729.821m and in value terms, Wednesday's Ksh 967.133m realised from exchange of 23.058m shares. Investors int...

In the month of September 2018, the All share index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange which more rightly reflects overall fortunes at the market, declined by 5.97% or 2081.84 points to. 32,766.37 on Friday, September 28, the last trading day. It could have been worse but for the curious price movements on Friday which drove the ASI up 0.01% while there was a nationwide strike was on and the Stock exchange itself had to close its doors to the public. The month had begun with the ASI closing at 34,848.45 on Friday, August 31 after a continous decline from 35,516.21 on August 28. On Thursday, day 1 of the nationwide strike it had closed down 0.61% to 32,763.35 but come day 2, only Nestlé Nigeria tumbled by N32.5 or 2.27% per share to up its leading decline for the month to N100 per share. Guinness Nigeria though also dropped by N6.15 or 7.14% per share to bring its all month decline to N15 per share, N8 of that in week 4 alone. In the end, the upwards shift in ASI on Friday occurred as equal...

The nationwide strike action declared by organised labour from yesterday, entered day 2 today and the costs and impact on the economy are beginning to emerge. Tin Can Island port in Apapa Lagos state, which is the main gateway for imported goods into Nigeria, has been closed. Hitherto, there was congestion in the port and the strike has made it worse. Containers are mounting and with that millions in demurrage. Under normal operations,there were charges for the first 3 days of uncleared container. After then , the charges begin to rise every 4 days culminating in about N8000 per day after about 15 days. With the strike, it is not of question of slow clearing and delivery, anymore, the demurrage just accumulates and will continue while the strike lasts  It happened like that earlier this year when port workers went on strike making worse importers aches over 200% increase in transportation costs because of very bad access road. We understand that to avoid being picketed by organised lab...

On Thursday, September 27 2018, the swinging pendulum visible in both the Nigerian and Nairobi stock markets got stuck just like in Ghana since last week NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE At the Nigerian stock exchange, the swinging pendulum got stock downbeat as the All share index declined by 199.9 points or 0.61% to 32,763.35 If the pendulum had continued to swing, it was time to head up after the ASI went down 0.46% to 32,963.27 on Wednesday after Tuesday's rally. There was perhaps good reason. Price volatile Nestle Nigeria dived by leading N62.5 or 4.18% per share  as it found and closed at N1400 per share while recording 68 deals for 0.904m shares valued at equally leading N1.273bn. No other price drop for the day out of the 21 recorded or out of the 13 price gains ended with anything close to this meaning the arrest of the pendulum was significantly by Nestle. Top gain was Total Nigeria's N1.9 or 1.05% per share rise as it closed at N183 per share compared...

The organised labour made good its warning of a nationwide strike action from today, Thursday September 27 2018 if negotiationover the national minimum wage was not restarted. According to various reports from different parts of the country, most affected were government offices, banks and schools especially the public ones. Abuja, we understand, the strike was total and the Federal Secretariat was a ghost town, banks were closed and only transport vehicles were keeping Abuja moving. In Lagos the strike was effective too as far as government offices and facilities were concerted. Alausa, the Lagos state secretariat, we understand was also shut down but most banks closed their doors and selectively allowed few customers in to transact business. At Sango in Ogun state, just next door to Lagos, only one bank risked opening its doors for business and customers freely went in and out. The rest closed their doors but again selective allowed some customers in sometimes, some bank staff went i...

It was a clear case of swinging pendulum at Nigerian and Nairobi stock markets on Tuesday and Wednesday as indices went up and down in turns. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE At the Nigerian Stock market, hopes were raised on Tuesday as the All share index finally rose even strongly by 2.08% to 33,114.44 but alas it went down again by 0.46% to 32,963.27. The Tuesday rise came from strong gains by Nestlé Nigeria (up N95 or 6.79% per share) and Dangote Cement ( up N5 or 2.44% per share). Come Tuesday, the reverse swing occurred as Dangote Cement led price losers as it lost N5 per share gained on Tuesday. It was easy for Dangote Cement because it found and closed at N205 per share compared to N210 on Tuesday as 47 deals were struck for 0.228m shares worth N46.955m. This was the lone drop above N1 per share but Total Nigeria also had similar solo run upwards by ending N1.1 per or 0.61% up to pace price gains. It was equally easy for Total by just finding and closing at N181.1 per share from N180 pr...

From tomorrow, Thursday, September 27 2018 all activities throughout Nigeria may come to a halt if the nationwide indefinite strike declared by the organised labour  of Nigeria takes off as directed. According to the Secretary General of the TUC, Comrade (Barr) Musa Lawal Ozigi, the strike was endorsed by the Central Working Committee of the the trade union at a meeting held on Monday, September 24. The Organised labour had earlier issued an ultimatum to the government which expires today Wednesday for the resolution of dragging new minimum wage talks or face nationwide strike action. The CWC, we understand, decided to call out workers on the strike because it could see any miracle that could be performed to set the new minimum wage before expiration of the deadline. They argued that even if the government performs wonders and gets the negotiating committee to come up with a figure, the National Assembly will be able to turn into a new law on minimum wages since th...

Which national assets have been used as collateral for the loans procurred by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the loans got so far from the Chinese? Answers to this question are necessary now because the Chinese take over of national assets in some African countries for inability to honour loan servicing and repayment agreements points to what could happen should Nigeria  be unable too to repay. Yet, can't pay is a possibility in the future especially if the oil and gas prices head down due to  glut in the market. For now, the prices are at four year high due to US President Donald Trump's miscalculations about OPEC readiness to obey a command to drive prices down by flooding the market to close any supply gap from Venezuela and Iran. Besides, the Nigerian foreign exchange position remains precarious in spite of the fairly high Brent crude price. For months now, the nation's reserve position has been dropping and by last week it crossed into the $44 bn range from cele...

The tea sector was apparently bearish at Nairobi stock market Monday September 24 2018 but it was only the Nigerian all shares index that dropped. NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE At the Nairobi Stock Exchange on Monday September 24, all the 3 listed tea companies in the agriculture sector crashed significantly but this was not enough to drag the All share index down. The ASI rose by 3.87 points to 149.35 after diving in the last 2 trading days of last week but mainly because 25 price gains and only 14 drops were recorded. Many drops were sharp and clear though. Williamson Tea led the bear's tea party with Ksh 15 per share decline as it touched day high of Ksh 165 per share, low of Ksh 145 before closing at Ksh 159 compared to Ksh174 per share on Friday. Limuru Tea, rarely traded in, followed with Ksh 10 per share decline as it found and closed at Ksh 540 per share as against Ksh 550 previously. Not left out, Kapchorua Tea shed Ksh 4 per share also by simply closing at Ksh 90 per share ...

In a bid to further enhance the efficiency and safety of cheques as medium of payment under the Nigeria Cheque Clearing Scheme, new standards for the production of cheques will take effect from February 1 next year  According to the Central Bank of Nigeria in a circular dated September 18, 2018, signed by director of Banking and Payments, Dipo Fatokun, the new standards and the old one will run concurrently for 18months from the take off date. The old standards were put in place in 2006 to establish Nigerian Cheque Standards (NCS) and Nigerian Cheque Printers Accreditation Scheme (NICPAS). Having in place for 12 years, the CBN decided to review it to incorporate, as the apex bank puts it "current realities"/ Hence, says the CBN, all cheques ordered after August 1 2019 must conform to the new standards. By August 1 2020, the circular added, only cheques that conform to the new standards shall be allowed in the automated clearing system. In addition, persons and entities wishin...

The foreign reserve of Nigeria finally dropped to $44.89bn by Thursday September 20 after hitting a well celebrated recent $47bn plus up to August 6. According to figures obtained from the Central Bank the reserves continued to drop and in fact declined into the $44bn range on Wednesday September 19 as it ended at $44.944bn. That means that in 3 days between 18th and 20th September. It declined $112m  and in the less than two months since it last touched $47bn (August 3), it went down by $2.179bn or 4.63%. It had dropped to $46.868bn by August 24 2018 and so decreased by $1.2bn or 2.6% in less than one month. In other words, Nigeria's foreign reserve is not only dropping daily, the rate of decline is also growing. Just like the proverbial tough to build up but so easy to drain or tear down. Meanwhile the part of the reserve that is untouchable, which had also continued to decline, picked up after touching $709.13m September 18, to $710.119m the next day before ending 20th September...

Last week ended Friday September 21 2018, at Nairobi Stock Market most price changes headed downwards and so the All share index declined by 7.99% or 12.64 points to 145.49 from previous Friday's 158.13. The ASI dropped each day of the week except Tuesday. It started down on Monday to 157.57 then recovered very marginally to 157.75 on Tuesday. Then the daily slide began in earnest , diving to 155.86 by Wednesday then hitting 148.52 on Thursday before the Friday close. It was a week of high margin drops led by Ksh 68 per share decline in share price of Kenya Orchards on Tuesday followed by daily drop except on Tuesday by East African Breweries that accumulated to Ksh 15 per share decline. Bamburi Cement too recorded price changes in 4 of the 5 trading days closing up Ksh 1 per share only on Wednesday and going the rest of the days for a net all week drop of Ksh 14 per share BOC Kenya went down by Ksh 11.50 per share in 2 price active days Wednesday and Friday while Diamond Trust Ban...

What looked like speculation by The Nation newspaper online that Skye Bank banking license has been withdrawn turned to be true. Sources confirmed that the license has indeed been withdrawn by the Central Bank of Nigeria, according to formal announcement made by the Governor of the bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele  What is yet to be announced, is that a new license  has also been issued to a new bank, Polaris Bank, hopefully to take over Skye Bank. By implication, the banks customers have nothing to worry about since it will just be a simple same and ownership change  But that if course begs the more important question: Who ran Skye Bank aground? Was it the board and top management put together for the bank since July 2016 by the CBN after sacking the Board or the old board under the chairmanship of Mr Tony Ayeni who as far back as August 2017 was alleged to be indebted to the bank up to N150bn as at then  The Cable news online had alleged then that the man abused his privileged position to ob...

At the Nigerian Stock market the trading week ended on Friday September 21 2018 with a rash of bank shares offload and a break from the up and down trend in the All shares index before then. The rash led to traded volume more than doubling to 523.444m shares from Thursday's 226.027m which was second highest before the Friday rash. At the close of tradibg , top 6 by volume were all banks and each recorded relative offload that swelled top 6 share of total traded volume to 88.1%. Guaranty Trust Bank paced them all with 208.54m shares offloaded in 171 deals worth N6.714bn as GTB rose by N0.70 or 2.05% after hitting day high of N35.50 per share and low of N34.50 before closing at N34.70 per share compared to N34 on Thursday. Zenith Bank, up N0.15 or 0.73% per share, with 82.46m shares exchanged in day high 287 deals worth N1.715bn. Two banks has above 60m of their shares offloaded as well. United Bank For Africa while closing up N0.2 or 2.56% per share, recorded 153 deals involving 66....

The United Nations is very concerned with the Sahel Region that it has decided to set up a special sponsorsgip programme for the region  According the UN special adviser for the Sahel Region, Mr Ibrahim Thiaw, the programme has 6 major priority areas:  -Cross border cooperation  -creating and sustaining peace. -Inclusive growth -Climate action -Renewable energy and  -Women and youth empowerment. Mr Thiaw was speaking during an officisl visit to the office of the Nigerian Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma in Abuja  According to him, under the support programme the UN has developed plans for agriculture and energy in the region especially wind and solar energy. Both plans, he added, will be presented at the upcoming IMF/World Bank meeting in October at Bali, Indonesia; at the World Economic Forum in Davis Switzerland and at European Union Council meeting for possible sponsors. Mr Thiaw then invited Nigeria to co-chair a specisll session on the Sahel Region...

On Thursday, September 20, 2018, the Nigerian and Ghana stock markets closed with their all market indices closing in opposite directions. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE At the Nigerian stock market, the All index stayed on course down today up next day by closing up by 0.33% to 32,480.89. On Wednesday, September 19 it had dropped by 0.02% to 32,375.12 after rallying by 0.56% on Tuesday September 18 from 0.39% decline at the start of the week on Monday. La Farge Africa paced pressure on the ASI upwards with N2.05 or 9.90% per share increase as it found and closed at N22.75 per share alongside 56 deals for 0.256m shares worth N5.77m. It was trailed by Guinness Nigeria up N2 or 2.33% per share while witnessing 23 deals for 1.605m shares valued at N0.141m. Second highest price equity, Seplat Petroleum led price drops with N6.7 or 1.10% drop per share as it too found and closed at N600 per share compared to N606.7 previously. In the process, Seplat recorded only 11 deals involving 0.537m shares w...

At the Nairobi Stock market on Thursday September 20 2018, the All share index dived by record 7.34 points or 4.71% to 148.52. This will be the first time since the decline from all time heights above 190 started in April this year. By April 6, 2018 for example, the ASI was 194.86 and since then there have been more trading days ending downwards than upwards but none with a drop as sharp as Thursday's. On May 2 2018 the drop recorded was 3.69 points and indeed, most of the decreases recorded stayed below 3 points with many below one full point. On Wednesday, the ASI had dropped by 1.89 points  to 155.86 before the Thursday dive and this was as 24 price drops and 8 gains were recorded. The same ratio virtually paced the Thursday dive with 25 price declines and 9 gains but the difference was that top weighted Safaricom joined other highly weighted equities downwards. I&M Holdings set the pace downwards with Ksh 8.50 per share declibe as it found and closed at Ksh 87.5 per share f...

At the three stock markets monitored and reviewed by Henates, the trend still remained up and down, down ...by Wednesday September 19 2018. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE At the Nigerian stock market, the All share index went down again by 0.02% to 32,395.12 after Tuesday's unexpected punctuation of days long trend downwards. This was despite twice as many equities (24) recorded price gains as those with drops (12). Of course, this was a by product of the relative market capitalisation of equities with the price changes. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria led price gains with N2.2 or 9.73% per share increase as it found and closed at N24.8 per share as against N22.6 previously.  This was 0.385m shares of the company were exchanged in 37 deals worth N9.169m. Forte Oil was the other company with gains above N1 during the day. It closed up by N2 or 10% per share while recording 73 deals for 0.416m shares worth N9.118m. International Breweries dropped by N2 PR 6.25%  per share to lead the few...

If investment announcements tracked by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council ( NIPC) are anything to go by,  about  $45.74bn has been or will be invested in Nigeria soon. According to the report for the first half of this year as tracked and published in NIPC's newsletter from January to June, 42 projects in 9 states of the federation were announced and amount to $45.74bn. The figure represents 137% increase on the $19.3bn in 45 projects for 23 states tracked in the first half of 2017. However, it is 2.7% or $1.27bn lower than the $47.01bn worth tracked in the second half of 2017. In all, the total value of tracked investment announcements throughout 2017 was $66.4bn out of which first half ratio that year was 29.1%. In other words, should 2017's trend be repeated, tracked investments should be worth some $157.2bn this year, given the first half report. Most of the tracked potential investments in 2018 first half were headed for Rivers State ($16bn or 35%); Balyelsa ($12bn ...

The 3 stock markets analysed so far dsily by Henates on Tuesday September 18, 2018 price making or discovery that could be good subjects for indepth study. NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE  At the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the study case revolves around Nestlé Nigeria as it rose N30.5 or 12.26%  per share to help drive the All share index up second time in more than a week. The ASI rose by 0.56% to 32381 after starting the week on Monday 0.39% down to dampen hopes that Friday's down slide punctuation could hold for a while. The case Nestlé offers stems from some drastic up and down it had gone through for a little above one week now. It started with a N145 per share dive on September 10 which was followed by a strong N130 per share rally the day. September 11. Then it went down daily from then till Monday shedding as much as N81 per share on Thursday last week, N28 more on Friday before going down N20 per share this Monday. That was before the Tuesday rally once again, which should make one ...

This trading week started on Monday September 17 2018 with the drumbeat downwards resuming at Nairobi and Nigerian Exchanges and upwards in Ghana  GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE At Ghana Stock Exchange, on Monday September 17, the Composite index rose by 26.02 points or 0.9% to 2901.83 as all 3 price changes recorded were upwards. Total Ghana paced all the gains with GHs 0.10 per share rise to GHs4.80 per share while 200 units were being exchanged. It had closed Friday at GHs 4.70 per share and interestingly looked set even rise higher as offer price closed at GHs 5.4 per share  MTN Ghana continued to be a blessing as it gained GHs 0.02 per share while at GHs 0.80 per share 1.31m shares were offloaded  compared to GHs 0.78 on Friday. Finally, Aluworks ltd recorded deals for 21000 shares at GHs 0.09 per share up GHs 0.01 on Friday's GHs0.08 per share. Standard Chartered Bank rose by GHs 0.01 to record deals for 410 units at GHs 26.04 per share  but could not sustain the gain and so, closed fi...

From October 2, 2018 all electronic money transfers expected to be concluded within 60 seconds will be done under clear cut regulations issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The circular on the new regulations were issued on Friday September 14 and they will become effective after Nigeria's independence day holiday, according to CBN Director of Banking and payments, Dipo Fatokun. The regulations aim at setting rules for instant electronic fund transfer; prescribing rights and obligations and establishing procedures for enhancing instant transfer within minimum standards  For example, under the rules, no transfer service shall be provided for any customer by a bank he or she does not have account with I unless such a customer  has an account with another bank in Nigeria. No such account, no service. Debits to customers accounts for the transfer must be fully secured before initiating the transfer. After the transfer, notification message to the initiating customer must confir...

At the Ghana Stock Exchange last week ended September 14 2018, there was good reason for smiles as surprise offloads surfaced and as the Composite index rose by 4.75 points or 0.17%. Make no mistake though, the prime mover especially of the GCI was the final listing of MTN Ghana the previous week. MTN was actually the only equity that traded relatively high volumes each day of the week cumulatively ending at 1.472m shares traded. But it only helped to drive traded volume to hard to repeat 21.857m shares exchanged through the week. The main driver was the 19.197m shares traded in Ghana Oil on Thursday bringing total of its shares traded to 19.279m. It did not record any trade on Tuesday. Of course, this all week volume can not be compared with 7.095m  shares in the previous that was then a record high brought on by MTN's listing. Compared to previous week volume daily was constantly high with Wednesday recording week low of 134,388 shares. Until Friday, the GCI rose one day and decl...

It is a pity that erstwhile Nigerian finance minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun had to resign when she was at the point of taking a bow for her pet project: Internal revenue growth  The 51 year old had to resign on Friday over NYSC exemption certificate scandal that refused to go away even as she  practiced the fine art of staying mute learnt  from her boss, the President. After she arrived the scene in November 2015 as finance minister, non oil revenue ended at N1124.72bn in 2016. This rose to N1262 bn in 2017 although because of good smiles from the crude oil market % contribution to total non VAT revenue was down to 45.4% from 2016's 49.3%. Mrs Adeosun it was who took on the tough task of getting more Nigerians and companies to legitimately pay tax and her strategy seemed set to deliver the goods  By quarter 1 this year, non oil revenue was N208.25bn and given the booties from her drive, this rose to N523.85bn by the quarter to June. And it looked like this was just going to be the begi...