Nigerian Breweries Plc leads equity market loss of N421.51 bln
The Nigerian domestic bourse lost over N421.51 billion following losses sustained by Nigerian Breweries Plc. The brewery giant kicked off trading for the last day of the month of May at N69.30 but unfortunately sell trades of a majority of traders forced the unit share price to end up at N62.40 losing precisely N6.9 or 9.96 percent in the process.
Thus the all share-index (ASI) dropped by 1.45 percent or 781.86 basis points from its previous session position of 53,772.14 basis points to close at 52,990.28 basis points. Apparently, the month-to-date and year-to-date data of trade for the last day of the month of May stayed positive with close of +6.8 percent and +24.1 percent respectively.
Unfortunately, equity trading lost 98.85 percent or more than 27 billion units of shares valued at over N190 billion at the close of trading yesterday. MTN Nigeria attracted the most attention from investors who were either looking forward to cashing out or re-investing ahead of the new month with over N1.64 billion taking up 44.25 percent of shares traded while Transcorp with 86 million units took up 27.25 percent of the volume section of trade.
Despite the loss in trading value, the general market sentiment was positive as 19 stocks gained relative to 16 stocks that lost. Transcohot with a gain of 6.84 percent or 40 kobo topped the gainers chat.
External reserves slide to lowest in seven months
Nigeria’s external reserves declined further last month to $38.54 billion as of May 27, 2022, the lowest in over seven months, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) show.
The reserves, which stood at $39.01 billion on October 11, 2021, lost $1.1 billion last month, according to the CBN data. It rose to a high of $41.83 billion on October 29, 2021.
Foreign exchange reserves are assets held on reserve by a monetary authority in foreign currencies. The reserves are used to back liabilities and influence monetary policy.
In January 2022, the external reserves were robust and above the international benchmark of 3.0 months of import cover, CBN’s economic report for the month of January 2022 said.
The external reserves stood at $39.38 billion as at January 31, 2022, and could finance 8.3 months of import for goods and services or 10.9 months of import for goods only. Read more here
Australia Q1 GDP growth beats estimates
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Australian economy grew by 0.8 percent in the first four months of 2022, beating analysts’ forecast of 0.5 percent.
The thirteenth strongest economy in the world, according to Investopedia, recorded its second straight quarter of growth following a slight drop in the third quarter (April-June) of 2021 due to a resurgence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
However, consumption by households continued to show growth (1.5% vs 6.4% in Q4), as growth across a number of important sectors picked up quite impressively. Sectors such as transport services, hotels, restaurants, and recreation played an important role in this drive.
According to a categorised analysis, government spending at all levels increased by 2.7 percent, compared to 0.4 percent in the previous quarter, while private investment increased after falling in Q4, led by machinery and equipment and intellectual property products.
The economy was strong enough to withstand the global supply shock created by the Russia-Ukraine war as it grew by 3.3 percent, above analysts’ consensus of 2.9 percent, after a 4.2 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Russia cuts gas supply to more European buyers
In an effort to force the rest of Europe to accept its terms, Russia has decided to cut off its gas supply to more European buyers. Putin wants to use Russia’s gas dominance over Europe to not only force the EU to accept its terms of payment but to sow the seed of division.
According to Bloomberg, Gazprom PJSC, the Russian majority state-owned gas company, decided to pause shipments to the Netherlands and Denmark this week, and then surprised markets by also cutting off a small contract supplying Germany.
Gazprom PJSC not only put a pause on shipments to the Netherlands and Denmark but also stopped supplies to energy giants Shell Plc and Orsted A/S for refusing to make payment in rubles.
Putin is not giving up on winning this war against Europe and intends to continue using gas supply, of which Russia accounts for more than 40% of European supply, to force them to the negotiating table.
Xi says China ready to expand ties with Zambia
According to Reuters, Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, has informed the Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema, that his country is willing to broaden and strengthen the bilateral tie between them.
In a televised broadcast on state television, Jinping told the audience that his country was willing to promote more bilateral trade with Zambia by expanding its investment in the copper-dominated country.
He also said that the country was willing to allow more imports of high quality agricultural produce from the country.
Political observers have noted that the relationship between the two countries has been improving, particularly since Hakainde Hichilema took office as president in August 2021.
Xi Jinping also promised President Hichilema to strengthen epidemic control cooperation.
