Author: Marketforces Africa

Moody’s Affirms Seplat’s Corporate Family Rating, Outlook Positive Moody’s Ratings has affirmed the Caa1 long-term corporate family rating (CFR) and Caa1-PD probability of default rating (PDR) of Seplat Energy Plc, an official rating note revealed. Concurrently, the ratings agency affirmed the Caa1 rating on its $650 million senior unsecured bond maturing in April 2026. The outlook remains positive, according to Moody’s. Today’s rating action reflects Seplat’s recently announced completion of the acquisition of Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPNU) from Exxon Mobil Corporation, Moody’s said, adding that transformational acquisition will strengthen its business profile and is credit-positive. Moody’s said the acquired…

FirstBank Subsidiary Becomes Registered Nominee Company FirstBank of Nigeria Ltd. says its subsidiary, First Nominees Nigeria Ltd., has been registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as Nigeria’s first nominee company in the capital market. A statement on Tuesday by Olayinka Ijabiyi, Acting Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. said the registration was effective from Nov. 22, 2024. Ijabiyi said the registration made FirstNominees the first non-pension assets custodian in Nigeria to be recognised and registered by SEC, among the current 11 market players. As the first indigenous non-pension custody business in Nigeria, FirstNominees…

Equities investors gained about N77 billion in the Nigerian stock market on Tuesday due to sustained bargain hunting in Stanbic IBTC, Aradel Holdings.

U.S Fed Likely to Pause Rate Cuts in 2025 –CEO Investors are being urged to act with caution and reassess their portfolios as mounting evidence suggests the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates in the first half of 2025 – even if it does so on Wednesday. The warning from Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations, comes as persistent inflationary pressures, coupled with a resilient US labor market and fiscal policies expected from the incoming Trump administration, cast significant doubt over any near-term monetary easing. Despite market hopes for a…

Chinese Yuan Weakens to 7.1891 Against Dollar The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the Yuan, weakened nine pips to 7.1891 against the dollar on Tuesday. This is according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the Yuan can rise or fall by two per cent from the central parity rate each trading day. The central parity rate of the Yuan against the dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day. #Chinese Yuan Weakens to 7.1891…

Oando Energy Slips by 9% as Investors Exit Positions Oando Energy Plc is trading negative during early trading hours in the equities segment of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) after unimpressive earnings performance. Investors exiting positions due to earnings downturn in the third quarters of financial year 2024 have triggered price pressures on the energy stock. According to information obtained from the local bourse during trading hours, Oando Plc has lost about 9% of its market value on Tuesday as investors exiting positions. The stock is trading at N66.50 from previous close of N68.9 per share. In a regulatory filing, the…

Nigeria’s 5-year bonds were priced higher by 14 basis points (bps) at the primary market auction (PMA)  conducted by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Wednesday.

Inflation Estimated to Settle at 35.20% in December With unending price instability in Nigeria, analysts and investment firms expect inflation to continue to rise throughout the year. Due to weak naira and high fuel pump price of petrol, inflation rate has continued to tick after two disinflationary moment that were short-lived The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report revealed that inflationary pressures remained elevated in November, as headline inflation increased by 72 bps to 34.60% year on year from 33.88% in October. On a month-on-month basis, headline inflation remained steady at 2.65%, as the uptick in food inflation was offset…

2025 Budget: N13trn Deficit to be Financed Through Borrowing – Edun Mr Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, on Monday said the N13 trillion deficit in the N48 trillion 2025 budget would be financed through borrowing. The minister said this while briefing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The total projected revenue for 2025 stands at N34,820,000,000,000 out of which the expenditure is projected at 47,960,000,000,000, which is an increase of 36.8 per cent from the 2024 estimate. The deficit for 2025 is projected at 13,140,000,000,000,…

The cryptocurrency market was heated up as investors raised bets and pushed bitcoin (BTC) to a new high of $106,000….