Brent crude hit $104.09 per barrel on Monday after it surged by $2.98 or 3.1 per cent as supply took center stage on the market with the potential of new production cuts getting support and deadly clashes in Libya which renewed concerns about Libyan oil exports.

Also, the price of the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $3.95 or 4.2 per cent to sell at $97.01 per barrel.

Last week, the Brent found its way back to the $100 mark and has traded above that threshold for most of the past five days after Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, said that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) was ready to cut production at any time in any form if it believes it would bring stability to the “schizophrenic” oil market.

After the Saudi signal, OPEC’s rotating president for this year, Congo’s Hydrocarbons Minister Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, also expressed support for potential cuts.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has similar views to Saudi Arabia on the crude oil markets, as speculation intensifies over whether the OPEC+ group would consider making new cuts to production again.

Some other OPEC+ producers, including Iraq, Venezuela, and Kazakhstan, have also signalled support for new production restrictions.

OPEC+ meets on September 5 at a regular meeting, but it’s not a given yet that it would discuss new production cuts.

Another supply concern came this weekend from Libya, the most volatile OPEC producer and one exempted from the OPEC+ cuts due to its dire security situation.

Clashes between rival factions in the capital Tripoli left at least 32 people dead and dozens more wounded this weekend, stoking renewed concern of a larger military conflict that could choke Libya’s oil exports, again.

Oil’s gain was limited by a strong US Dollar, which hit a 20-year high on Monday after the Federal Reserve chairman signalled that interest rates would be kept higher for longer to curb inflation.

While a strong greenback grips the market, the undersupply issue in the oil markets will probably continue to support the market with possibilities of the OPEC+ group’s next move and the volatile situation in Libya overshadowing concerns about the global economy on Monday.

Nations that are members of the International Energy Agency could release more oil from strategic petroleum reserves (SPR) if they find it necessary when the current scheme expires, the head of the agency, Mr Faith Birol said on Monday.

Naira Trades N710/$1 at P2P, $702/$1 at Black Market

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Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed flat on Friday amid a decline in the level of activity, according to data from the exchange.

It was the second trading session of the month of September and when the market closed for the day, the key performance indicators of the NASD OTC bourse retained the values of the previous session, with the unlisted securities index at 762.12 points and the market capitalisation at N1.003 trillion.

During the trading day, the value of trades went down by 91.7 per cent to N122.9 million from the previous day’s N753,550, the volume of transactions depreciated by 81.9 per cent to 21,900 units compared with the 121,600 units traded on Thursday, while the number of deals increased yesterday by 33.3 per cent to eight deals from the preceding day’s seven.

Business Post reports that the value all stocks on the platform remained unchanged as none increased or decreased at the close of business.

AG Mortgage Bank Plc was the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc stood in second place with 686.6 million units worth N14.2 billion, while Food Concepts Plc was in third place with 147.8 million units valued at N128.4 million.

CSCS Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 686.6 million units worth N14.2 billion, VFD Group Plc was in second place with 24.5 million units valued at N6.6 billion, while FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc was in third place with 14.1 million units valued at N1.7 billion.

The Naira depreciated against the United States Dollar at both the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments of the foreign exchange market and remained unchanged at the parallel market window.

Amid Nigeria’s wobbling forex supply, the local currency lost 50 Kobo or 0.35 per cent against the US Dollar at the I&E to close at N430.50/$1 in contrast to the prior day’s N430.00/$1.

Data from the FMDQ Securities Exchange showed that FX trades worth $93.54 million were carried out during the session, 25.3 per cent or $18.86 million higher than the $74.68 million reported the day before.

Also, the value of the Naira to the Dollar depreciated by N3 or 0.42 per cent at the P2P market segment to N715/$1 compared to the N712/$1 it was traded in the previous session and in the black market, the local currency traded flat against the greenback yesterday at N700/$1.

In the interbank segment of the market, the Naira witnessed a marginal loss against the Pound Sterling by 39 Kobo to wrap up at N491.94/£1 in contrast to Thursday’s exchange rate of N491.55/£1 and against the Euro, the local currency declined by 29 Kobo to close at N425.38/€1 versus N425.09/€1.

Meanwhile, at the digital currency market, six of the 10 tokens tracked by Business Post were bearish, with Ethereum (ETH) going down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $1,548.26 and Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciating by 0.9 per cent to trade at $0.0617.

In addition, Bitcoin (BTC) retreated by 1.4 per cent to sell for $19,808.09, Solana (SOL) depreciated by 1.5 per cent to close at $31.03, Binance Coin (BNB) recorded a 0.9 per cent slide to sell at $275.56, while Ripple (XRP) recorded a 0.8 per cent fall to trade at $0.3284.

On the gainers’ end, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 4.7 per cent to trade at $60.26, Cardano (ADA) recorded a 1.9 per cent growth to settle at $0.4658, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) closed flat at $1.00 each.

Fresh buy interest in Nigerian stocks further stretched the gains on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.31 per cent on Friday.

The interests were mainly from banking shares and others as the banking index grew by 0.90 per cent, the insurance sector appreciated by 0.85 per cent, the consumer goods counter improved by 0.38 per cent, while the energy space fell by 0.05 per cent, with the industrial goods sector closing flat.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 156.03 points to settle at 50,045.83 points compared with the previous day’s 49,889.80 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N85 billion to close at N26.994 trillion compared with Thursday’s N26.909 trillion.

Sterling Bank was the most active stock during the session as it sold 93.7 million units worth N136.0 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 28.8 million units valued at N97.1 million. Fidson sold 13.9 million shares for N130.4 million, GTCO transacted 13.0 million equities worth N258.5 million, while Zenith Bank traded 12.4 million stocks valued at N266.5 million.

A total of 240.0 million shares worth N2.7 billion in 3,435 deals on the last trading day of the week compared with the 229.1 million shares worth N1.8 billion in 3,575 deals transacted in the preceding day, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 3.92 per cent and an improvement in the trading volume and value by 4.76 per cent and 53.00 per cent respectively.

The investor sentiment was strong as the market breadth ended positive after recording 10 price losers and 23 price gainers led by FCMB, which increased its value by 9.06 per cent to N3.49. Stanbic IBTC improved by 6.45 per cent to N33.00, eTranzact gained 6.00 per cent to finish at N2.65, Transcorp grew by 4.76 per cent to N1.10, while NPF Microfinance Bank rose by 4.52 per cent to N1.62.

On the flip side, McNichols lost 9.46 per cent to trade at 67 Kobo, RT Briscoe depreciated by 8.57 per cent to 32 Kobo, Chams fell by 7.14 per cent to 26 Kobo, Honeywell Flour went down by 4.53 per cent to N2.53, while UPDC declined by 2.86 per cent to N1.02.