Stock Market

AfDB tasks African countries on meeting energy deficit

Published

12 years ago

December 5, 2013

The African Development Bank (AfDB), in Addis Ababa on Wednesday urged African countries to strengthen their energy policies to meet electricity needs in both rural and urban areas. The Bank said this at the opening of a three-Day Global Conference on rural energy access for sustainable development and poverty eradication being organised by the UN-Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
It has as its them: “Rural Energy Access: A Nexus Approach to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication”. The Bank’s of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Africa Hub Coordinator, Dr Daniel Schroth listed Nigeria among 12 Sub-Saharan African countries with huge energy deficit.
Schroth said 74 per cent of the global access deficit for electricity “is concentrated in just 20 countries, 12 of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa. “The countries are Nigeria, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Mozambique, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Niger and Malawi”. He said recent data by the World Bank under the Global Tracking Framework on SE4All showed 590 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lacked access to electricity.
Schroth said 690 million people in the same region rely on solid fuel for cooking, representing an access rate of 63 and 14 per cent respectively in urban and rural populations. “ Moreover, 19 of the 20 countries with lowest energy access rates globally are in Sub-Saharan Africa with South Sudan two per cent, Chad and Liberia four per cent and Burundi five per cent. While progress has been made in other parts of the World, rural electrification is particularly low in Sub-Saharan.
“This is where electrified population grew by only 0.4 per cent over the period between 1990 and 2010”, he said.
He urged African countries to speed up efforts in developing stable policies that would address the situation. He said the bank was committed to making Sustainable Energy for All a reality in Africa, by using available instruments including risk coverage and innovative financing tools. Meanwhile the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr Carlos Lopez in a message to the conference called for more articulated efforts to address the situation.
He said addressing energy needs in Africa would put the continent on the path of sustainable development and growth.
Lopez said there was concern that more than 1.2 billion of the global population lacked access to electricity.
He said it was also worrisome that 2.8 billion still relied on unsustainable solid bio-mass as fuel for cooking and heating. He said around 1 billion (85 per cent) of those without electricity and 2.2 billion (78 per cent) depending on solid bio-mass, lived in rural areas.
“Communities in rural isolated areas represent, in many cases, the poorest segment of the population in developing countries, including Sub-Saharan Africa and developing regions in Asia and Latin America. There is a strong nexus between energy and other important development factors such as education, health, gender, environment, economic growth, food security, and water. Sustainable access to modern energy services is a critical input and catalyst for improving the productive capacities and welfare of rural isolated communities, leading to poverty eradication and sustainable development.“
According to him, extension of national grids, in most countries, is too expensive to cover these isolated areas.
“Nevertheless, appropriately scaled renewable energy systems, in particular advanced clean cook stoves and stand-alone (off-grid) electric generating systems that are practical, reliable, and durable are now both widely available and affordable.“
Lopez said the Sustainable Energy for All, “which is the major initiative of the Secretary-General, includes as one of its three main objectives, Universal Access to Modern Energy Services by 2030. He said it should be pursuit by Africa as priority to address the energy challenge in the continent. The AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, Dr Elham Ibrahim, urged African countries to place the continent on the path of development with greater attention to rural electrification. She said Africa must exploit its huge potential in renewable energy resources, which he said, was capable of generating 1,800 Tera Watts-hours of Hydro-electricity.

Stock Market

NGX equity investors gain N97bn

Published

2 days ago

December 4, 2025

Business News Report

NGX market capitalisation inched up on Thursday as equity investors gained more than N92 billion in a wide price upswing that has lasted for three days. Trading activities closed on a positive note, and the bargain hunting boosted key market performance indicators by 0.10%. The stock market index, or the All-Share Index, increased by 152.28 basis points, or 0.10%, to close at 145,476.15 basis points.

Also, NGX market capitalisation climbed by ₦97.06 billion to close at ₦92.73 trillion. Despite the negative breadth, the market rally reflects investors’ continued caution in the stock market. Stockbrokers reported buying interest in selective stocks including OANDO, WAPIC, UACN, TRANSCORP, GTCO, and others across all sectorial indexes.

In contrast, market activities inched lower as the total volume of all trades and their combine value by -14.15% and -8.47% respectively. Today, approximately 1,932.45 million units valued at ₦19,192.53 million were transacted across 23,369 deals.

FIDELITYBK was the volume driver, accounting for 9.04% of all stocks volume executed in the local bourse, followed by GTCO (8.25%), ZENITHBANK (7.90%), ETI (6.38%), and ACCESSCORP with 5.16%.
GTCO topped value chart, accounting for 19.52% of total value of all trades executed on the exchange – the highest traded on the exchange.
UACN led gainers chart, up by +10.00%, trailed by MORISON (+9.94%), ETI (+8.53%), WAPIC (+8.47%), MANSARD (+7.75%), FTNCOCOA (+7.10%), and seventeen others.

A total of twenty-eight (28) stocks depreciated, according to market report released by Atlass Portfolio Limited. With a price depreciation of -10.00%, ELLAHLAKES and EUNISELL both topped the worst performers’ chart, followed by TRANSCOHOT (-9.95%), OMATEK (-9.23%), GUINEAINS (-8.46%), and CAP (-6.16%).

Hence, the market breadth closed on a negative note, as there were 23 gainers and 28 losers. The sectoral performance was positive, as all five major market sectors appreciated. The insurance sector led with an increase of +1.56%, followed by the banking sector (+0.91%), the industrial goods sector (+0.48%), the consumer goods sector (+0.28%), and the oil & gas sector (+0.08%).

Stock Market

Stock market investors gain N252bn as NGX Index rises 27 bps

Published

3 days ago

December 3, 2025

Business News Report

Nigerian Exchange (NGX) continued its upward trajectory on Wednesday, with the All-Share Index climbing by 0.27% to reach 145,323.87 points. NGX market capitalisation rose to ₦92.38 trillion as equities investors gained N252 billion. The market demonstrated positive momentum, reflected in a breadth ratio of 1.9x, with 30 stocks posting gains compared to 16 that declined, stockbrokers said. The bullish momentum was fuelled by interest in some oversold stocks across key sectors. Among the top performers were GUINNESS, NCR, NGXGROUP, MULTIVERSE, and SKYAVN, while VERITASKAP, LASACO, PRESTIGE, ROYALEX, and ETI experienced the most significant declines.

Stockbrokers also noted positive price movement in BUACEMENT, UBA, GUINNESS, WEMABANK, STERLINGNG, among others. The All-Share Index added 395.51 basis points to close at 145,323.87 basis points. Trading metrics presented contrasting patterns as the volume of shares traded jumped dramatically by 271.27% to 2.25 billion units, and the number of transactions increased 45.45% to 21,513 deals. Conversely, the total value of transactions dropped 47.17% to ₦20.97 billion. ACCESSCORP emerged as the most traded stock, accounting for 13.60%, followed by ZENITHBANK (13.17%), GTCO (8.70%), STERLINGNG (6.27%), and FIDELITYBK with 5.25%.

ZENITHBANK topped the value chart, accounting for 20.54% of the total value of all trades executed in the local bourse. GUINNESS led the performers chart, gaining +10.00%, trailed by NCR (+9.98%), NGXGROUP (+9.96%), MULTIVERSE (+9.95%), SKYAVN (+9.74%), OMATEK (+5.69%), and twenty-four others. A total of fifteen (15) stocks depreciated, according to data obtained from the local bourse. With a price depreciation of -4.47%, VERITASKAP topped the worst performers’ chart, followed by LASACO (-3.77%), PRESTIGE (-3.03%), ROYALEX (-2.56%), ETI (-1.88%), and CORNERST (-1.75%). Hence, the market breadth closed on a positive note, as there were 30 gainers and 15 losers, stockbrokers reported.

Sector performance showed varied results: the Banking sector led with a 0.65% gain, followed by Industrial Goods which rose 0.47%; Consumer Goods up 0.38%; and Insurance advancing 0.27%. In contrast, the Oil & Gas sector fell 0.47% and Commodities declined 0.24% Ikeja Hotels hits highest valuation in 52 weeks gaining 45 per cent

Stock Market

NGX investors lose N129bn in one week

Published

6 days ago

November 30, 2025

Business News Report

The NGX All-Share Index fell by 0.14 per cent to 143,520.53, while market capitalisation closed at N91.286 trillion for the week.

This, compared with 143,722.62 points and N91.415 trillion recorded in the previous week, reflects weaker sentiment across the market.

Investors “lost about N129 billion this week as profit-taking continued across major counters”. Most indices closed lower, except NGX CG, NGX Premium, NGX Banking, NGX Pension, NGX AFR Div. Yield, NGX AFR Bank Value, NGX MERI Growth, NGX MERI Value, NGX Lotus II, NGX Growth and NGX Sovereign Bond.

These indices appreciated between 0.01 per cent and 0.94 per cent, showing selective interest in defensive stocks. Turnover rose to 4.140 billion shares worth N115.889 billion in 102,351 deals, higher than 2.668 billion shares valued at N106.264 billion last week.

The financial services industry led activity with 3.358 billion shares worth N81.175 billion in 43,392 deals.

This represented 81.10 per cent of total volume and 70.05 per cent of total value traded during the week.

The services industry followed with 148.272 million shares worth N1.319 billion exchanged in 7,181 deals. The consumer goods sector placed third with 143.638 million shares worth N7.988 billion in 12,099 trades.

Cornerstone Insurance, GTCO and Access Holdings accounted for 2.005 billion shares worth N47.535 billion in 10,185 deals.

These three stocks contributed 48.43 per cent of total turnover volume and 41.02 per cent of total value.

Thirty-eight equities gained during the week, up from 20 recorded previously, while 36 declined, compared with 60 in the prior week.

Seventy-three equities remained unchanged, higher than 67 posted in the previous trading week. Ikeja Hotel, NCR Nigeria, UACN, CWG and Veritas Kapital emerged top gainers, advancing by N9.40, N13.55, N8.90, N1.90 and 18k, respectively.

Meyer, Sunu Assurances, UPDC, Tantalizer and Abbey Mortgage Bank topped the losers’ chart, shedding N3.05, 68k, 68k, 26k and 65k, respectively.

The NGX disclosed the listing of 243,424 additional units of the Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund.

It said, “The additional units arose from the Fund’s 2025 Q3 scrip dividend distribution to qualifying holders.”

The NGX added that the Fund’s total units have increased to 1,056,257,953 following the fresh listing.

The exchange also confirmed the extension of VFD Group’s Rights Issue following SEC approval. It said trading in the company’s rights “will now close on Friday, December 26.”