Author: Marketforces Africa

Crude Oil Prices Increase as U.S Sanctions Iran Crude oil prices increase as U.S. sanctions on Iran raise supply risks in the global commodities market ahead of the Federal Reserve’s potential rate cut. Uncertainties in the commodity market remain elevated over US President Donald Trump’s trade policies, though plans to resume Iraqi oil exports and hopes for Russia-Ukraine peace capped price increases. Brent crude increased by 1.7%, trading at $74.60 per barrel, up from $73.32 at the close of the previous session. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased by 0.4%, reaching $71 per barrel, compared to its prior…

Fitch Affirms Ecobank Transnational Inc. at ‘B-‘ with Stable Outlook Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s (ETI) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B-‘ with a stable outlook. Ecobank issuer ratings are driven by its standalone creditworthiness, as expressed by its viability rating of ‘b-‘, Fitch said in its rating note released on Monday. As a bank holding company, ETI’s viability rating is notched down once from the group VR of ‘b’ due to very high common equity double leverage. The group viability takes into consideration a leading pan-African franchise, strong revenue and geographical diversification, acceptable asset quality, healthy…

The US dollar fell against its major trading partners, except for a gain versus the yen ahead of economic data. A slew of soft data and renewed expectations that US President Donald Trump’s tariffs will only be a short-lived transactional measure hurt the dollar last week, ING said in a note.

Nigerian Exchange Shrinks as Equities Investors Lose N231bn The Nigerian Exchange, NGX, market capitalisation shrank by about N231 billion on Monday as sell side actors exited position in some named stocks. The domestic market opened the week on a bearish note with moderating year to date return while key market performance indicators fell by 0.34%. Stockbrokers saw investors taking profit across sectorial indices, driven by huge selloffs in banking tickers, and others. The Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index decreased by 370.43 basis points today to close at 108,126.97. However, the market activities improved as the total volume and total value traded…

Banking Stocks See Intense Sell Heat on NGX The Nigerian Exchange, NGX, All share index dipped during the early trading session due to sell pressures facing banking names. Investors are currently exiting positions in some financial stocks in the market as sentiment wanes. In their separate stock market recommendation, Afrinvest Securities Limited and Atlass Portfolios Limited mood appeared to have switched to predominantly bearish. These investment firms are guiding investors to trim their holdings in banking stocks, oil and gas index, the consumer goods and industrial names. Stockbrokers said buy orders have been limited as investors watch and see development…

Stock recommendation: With expectation of negative upside potential, Atlass Portfolios Limited has advised investors to exit positions in banking, oil and gas, Agriculture among others.

Afrinvest Advises Investors to Reduce Airtel, MTNN Stocks Afrinvest Securities Limited foresaw negative upside potential in Airtel Africa, and MTN Nigeria Plc, according to its stock recommendation list release on Monday. The investment securities firm advised investors to reduce interest in the two telecom giants listed on the Nigerian Exchange, NGX as its stockbrokers expect negative Data from the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, showed that MTN Nigeria closed at N264.2 per share on Friday, while Airtel Africa remained unchanged at N2156.90 in the local bourse. In the update release, Afrinvest reduced target price for MTN Nigeria from N338.20 to N254.87, which…

Oil Prices Fall as Iran Examines Export Pipelines Readiness Crude oil prices reduced across grades in the global commodities market amidst uncertainties, taking off from last moment bearish mood last week. During early trading hours on Monday, oil prices fell amidst expectations that Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) would resume oil exports after nearly two years and that progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks could boost global supply. Brent crude fell by 0.05%, trading at $73.86 per barrel, while the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased by 0.1%, settling at $72.12 per barrel, compared to its prior session close of…

Eterna Plc. Shrinks by 10% as Investors Sentiments Dive Eterna Plc market value declined by about 10% in the equities market due to sell pressure that lasted for three out of five trading sessions on the Nigerian Exchange. Huge shares were traded in the market, with moderate price fluctuations. Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed the share price of Eterna Plc settled at N40.6 on Friday, from the opening price of N45 in the same week. Hence, its market value dropped to N52.948 billion. Its earnings release revealed that Eterna returned to profitability in 2024 after negative earnings performance in…

Moody’s Downgrades Senegal Ratings after Court of Auditors Findings Moody’s Ratings has downgraded the Government of Senegal long-term issuer and foreign-currency senior unsecured ratings to B3 from B1 and changed the outlook to negative. The short-term issuer ratings have been affirmed at Not Prime (NP), saying this concludes the review for downgrade that was initiated at the time of the 4 October 2024 rating action. In its report, Moody’s said the downgrade is driven by the substantially weaker fiscal metrics revealed by Senegal’s Court of Auditors. The scale and nature of the discrepancies significantly limit Senegal’s fiscal space and contribute…