₦airaland Forum

The prices of most goods and services change on monthly and yearly basis. To check how the price affects an average consumer budget an index known as Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used.

The CPI measures the average change over time in prices of goods and services consumed by people for day-to-day activities that is it measures the inflation rate.

Prices of items from both rural and urban centres from the 36 states of the country and the federal capital territory are measured by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to produce a composite consumer price index for the economy.

In this article we look at how prices of certain components of the CPI (items that yields the inflation) stand in February 2020 which serves as the most important to consumers on a monthly basis.

All Items Index/Headline Inflation

The inflation rate of all items that comprises of the consumer price index on a year-on-year (YoY) basis increase by 12.20% in February 2020, rises by 0.07% from the month of January 2020, the highest recorded so far since April 2018 (12.48%). On month-on-month basis, the inflation rate increased by 0.79%, lower than the previous month of 0.87%.

Full reports and charts at https://realnaira.com.ng/2020/03/inflation-how-prices-of-goods-and-services-stand-for-the-month-of-february-2020/

This week in the stock market, investors lost nearly N200 billion as the stock market closes with a decline of 1.52% to end the week on Friday at 21,861.78 index points, lower when compared to 2.35% loss recorded last week. This week makes it the 9th week of an un-impressive performance in the year 2020.
The week’s performance was as a result of the negative performance recorded on Monday and Wednesday which ended the market by -2.24% and -0.05% respectively. However, the highest gain was recorded on Friday with 0.48%.

Market in a Deep Red Zone

On a month-to-date (MTD) rate, the stock market has shed 16.61% of its index point, the highest to be recorded for a single month in the last 15 months which has already ended 11 trading sessions in red out of 20 sessions traded throughout the course of the month.
Similarly, the Nigerian equities market All-Share Index on a year-to-date (YTD) rate is in a deep red zone as the stock market year-to-date rate keeps adding up to its loses to yield -18.55%.

Down time for the Market

The average closing price of the All-share Index over the last 200-day ended on March 27th, 2020 is at 26,933.82. In the moving average chart shown below, the All-share Index is extremely farther away from both the 50-day and 200-day moving average. As long as the ASI remains below the 200-day moving average on the daily timeframe, the stock market is generally considered to be in downtrend.
The 50-day moving average shown on the daily chart reveals the ASI 50-day moving average has crossed over to the downside of the 200-day moving average acknowledging the fact that the stock market is still in dipping zone.

Market below its true value

The coronavirus outbreak continues to affect the performance of the stock market as demands are receding which in turn put the market currently below the oversold mark.
Losses are outpacing the performance gains of the stock market which is causing a decline in price leading the relative strength index (RSI) to decline. Since gains and losses will stabilize or even change direction, sooner or later, an RSI evaluation can aid in making the most profitable portfolio buying decisions.
On this week stock market All-share Index chart, the RSI recorded the highest index number for the week on Friday at 17.52 as the stock market experienced a slight gain of 0.48%, higher than 15.24 index number recorded last week.
The ASI relative strength index (RSI) is currently below the oversold mark (below 30) this according to the chart below indicates the stock market is presently in a downtrend mode and UNDERVALUED.

The volatility of the stock market remains wide

During the week on the Bollinger Bands chart, the price momentum of the ASI breaks closer to the lower band as it indicates the stock market price is statistically cheap.
The Bollinger Bands helps us determine the action of price as it nears the edges of either the lower (cheap) or upper (expensive) band is what we are particularly interested in and whether a trend continuation or reversal might occur.
Between the two bands, the ASI moved slightly above the lower band indicating the market is currently cheap and the upper band which shows the high or expensive level of the stock market price has been trending also downward towards a 27,000 index points indicating the stock market is in an extremely VOLATILE mode.
The tendency for the stock market to vary often and widely is still open as the gap between the upper band (27,179.32) and lower band (19,954.38) continues to expand. This is because the standard deviation increases as the price ranges widen and decrease in narrow trading ranges which influence the downtrend of price to spread the bands apart.
The stock market isn’t showing any sign of recovery yet as price remain closer to the lower band which isn’t different from what the market has been undergoing through subsequent weeks. The chart is indicating the current trend (downtrend) of the stock market is still persisting.

All charts can be accessed at https://realnaira.com.ng/2020/03/what-the-stock-market-says-about-making-money-this-week-3/

Access Bank Plc has published its audited results for the full year ended 31st December, 2019 reporting a final dividend of N0.40K after N115.38 billion profit before income tax which offset the increase in its gross earnings of N666.75 billion.

The company’s stock was among the best performing stocks despite the negative performance of the overall stock market in 2019 as its share price increased by 47.06% from N6.80 in 2018 to N10.00 as at December 31st, 2019.

Gross Earnings

The gross earnings as at December 31, 2019, stood at N666.75 billion as against the N528.74 billion which was recorded for the corresponding period for 2018. This shows a 26.10% increase in revenue.

The increase was as a result of revenue generated from four operational segments of the company: corporate & investment banking (N254.41 billion), commercial banking (N148.86 billion), business banking (N40.34 billion) and retail banking (N223.13 billion) which are derived from external customers.

Operating Cashflow...

Full Details at https://realnaira.com.ng/2020/03/access-bank-increases-dividend-by-60-after-97-billion-naira-profit/

The medical profession appears to be undergoing great changes that might be shaping the future of the nation. Some of these changes, such as the increasing in number medical school applicants and the expanding numbers of females entering the medical profession.

In 2018, the total number of freshly admitted students into various medical schools across all universities in the country was 29,715, 1,275 higher than 28,440 admitted in 2017. This represents about 7.04% of the total number of universities’ admitted students in the country.

The faculty of medical, pharmaceutical and health sciences ranked the sixth faculty with the highest number of admitted applicants after the faculty of sciences, education, social sciences, arts & humanities and the faculty of engineering.

However, it’s interesting to see that these top states don’t budge easily from the positions they hold in 2017, as they are most likely guaranteed to produce more medical students every year. When compared to the 2017 ranking, 8 are still present on the list, which means only two new freshmen.

1. Imo

Imo occupies the top spot in the country with the highest number of applicants admitted into medical schools, thanks to its large number of applicants that sat for the UTME. Much of Imo’s reputation is as a result of its large number of female students as they occupy 65% (1,589) of the total number of candidates admitted from the state compared to 844 males.

https://realnaira.com.ng/2020/03/where-are-the-medical-students-most-likely-to-come-from/

The data was released by the Bureau of Statistics telecoms data for the third quarter in 2019

1. Lagos: Nigeria’s largest commercial city, Lagos recorded the highest with an estimated 16.87 million internet subscribers. In the state, Mtn had 5.57 million internet subscribers, Glo with 3.93 million, Airtel with 5.13 million, 9mobile with 2.05 million and others accounted for 175,308 subscribers.

2. Ogun: Ogun state came second on the list with a total of 7.51 million internet subscribers. The breakdown shows that Mtn had 2.98 million, followed by Airtel (2.11 million), Glo (1.79 million), 9mobile (619,119) and others (11,612) internet subscribers in the state.

3. Kano: The state had the third highest number of internet subscribers in Nigeria. Kano had 6.95 million internet subscribers with Mtn accounting for the biggest share with 3.32 million, followed by Airtel with 2.05 million, Glo (1.01 million), 9mobile with 560,000 and others (13,903) internet subscribers.

4. Oyo: Total internet subscribers in the state were estimated at 6.30 million. In Oyo, being the third state from the western region in the list had Glo took the lead with 2.20 million subscribers, Mtn followed closely with 2.07 million, Airtel had 1.73 million, 9mobile (263,497) and others (39,952).

5. FCT: The federal capital territory (FCT) had a total of 5.70 million internet subscribers to rank the 5th in the list. The breakdown shows that MTN led in FCT with 1.91 million of internet subscribers, Glo came closely with a total subscribers of 1.90 million, Airtel had 1.28 million subscribers and 9mobile recorded 522,067 internet subscribers while others shared75,178 subscribers.

6. Kaduna: Internet Subscribers in Kaduna state were estimated at 5.51 million. Across the state, MTN took the top spot with 2.25 million, followed by Airtel with 1.71 million, Glo (1.07 million), 9mobile (423,823) and others with (45,128) internet subscribers.

7. Rivers: According to the report, Rivers state ranked the 7th and the first southern state in the list had an estimated subscriber of 4.97 million. Across the state, MTN took the lead with 2.16 million, Airtel had 1.29 million, Glo had 1.10 million, 9mobile (376,894) and others (40,619) internet users.

8. Delta: Delta state had a total of 4.25 million of internet subscribers. The breakdown shows that Mtn had a total of 1.76 million internet subscribers, followed by Airtel with 1.22 million, Glo (1.13 million), 9mobile (135,866) and others (9,576).

9. Edo: Edo state had a total of 4 million internet subscribers in which Glo had the largest share totaled at 1.56 million, followed closely is MTN with 1.35 million, Airtel (890,798), 9mobile (170,500) and others with 18,639 subscribers in the state.

10. Niger: Nigerstate, the third northern state and ranked the tenth position with the highest number of internet subscribers in Nigeria. The state had a total of 3.68 million internet subscribers. Mtn occupies the largest share with 1.37 million, Glo with 1.15 million, Airtel and 9mobile with 862,738 and 291,350 respectively and others (776).

Source: https://realnaira.com.ng/2020/01/top-10-states-with-the-highest-number-of-internet-subscribers/

Nigeria exported N269.83 billion worth of agricultural products in 2019 which accounts for 1.41% of the total revenue made from all exports in the year. This indicates a 12% decrease in the revenue made from N302.28 billion in the prior year. Between January and July 2019, Nigeria exported N159. 56 billion worth of agricultural products.

The top 10 agricultural products add up to about 94% of the total traded agricultural products, while the top 20 products contribute almost 97% and the top 30 products account for 98%.

1. Sesamum seeds, whether or not broken: Sesamum seeds has retained its position of being Nigeria’s foremost agricultural exports. The revenue made from the products was at N103.31 billion in 2019 of which between the month of January and March contributes the most as it generated over N39 billion. Sesanum seeds is often referred as the most important agricultural products and that’s because the products constitutes almost 38% of the total revenue made from agricultural products.

2. Good Fermented Nigerian Cocoa Beans: In 2019, Nigeria’s fermented cocoa beans ranks the second highest agricultural product export as it generated the sum of N66.54 billion. The breakdown shows that revenue made from the export of the product during the fourth quarter generated the most with N24.68 billion followed by the first quarter (N20.11 billion), second quarter (N10.94 billion) and the third quarter (N10.81 billion).

3. Cashew nuts, in shell: In 2019, Nigeria made the sum of N26.16 billion from the export of this product as it ranks the third agricultural products with the biggest earnings. The top trading periods on a quarterly basis occurred during Q2 (N18.3 billion), Q1 (N4.3 billion), Q3 (N2 billion), and Q4 (N1.5 billion).
4. Superior quality raw cocoa beans: Superior quality raw cocoa beans rank the fourth agricultural product with the biggest earnings. The N20.31 billion made from its export accounts for 7.5% of the total traded agricultural products. The top trading periods for its export on a quarterly basis occurred as follows: Q1 (N9.8 billion), Q2 (N5.9 billion), Q3 (N2.5 billion), and Q4 (N1.9 billion).

5. Cashew nuts, shelled: Cashew nuts (shelled) occupies the 5th spot in terms of revenue made from the export of agricultural products. With a revenue of N13.07 billion, cashew nuts controls 4.8% of the total revenue made from the export of agricultural products in 2019. The product was exported throughout the four quarters of the year, with the highest recorded in Q2 (N6.9 billion), followed by Q3 (N2.9 billion), Q4 (N2.1 billion) and Q1 with N1.1 billion.

https://realnaira.com.ng/2020/03/top-30-agricultural-products-exported-in-2019/

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS with the collaboration of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), an institution that oversees the admission process into any University in Nigeria, released the number of registered applicants for its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) across all states in the country. The report contains the number of both females and males applicants from the 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).

According to the report, the total number of applicants eligible for the 2018 UTME is 1.65 million of which 750,793 females and 902,049 males registered for the examination.
When classified into the six geo-political zones of the country, the six states from the south-western part had a total of 391,872 (23.70%), followed by the south-eastern states with 306,248 (18.52%), north-central states had a total 301,060 (18.21%), south-south states with 297,135 (17.97%), states from the north-western had 217,681 (13.17%), north-eastern part of the country with 138,846 (8.40%) and foreigners with 285 (0.017%) applicants.

The result is surprising as the most populous state in the country Lagos fell out of the top 10 while Osun state makes the top 10.
1. Imo

Imo ranked the first with the highest number of registered applicants. The total number of registered applicants from the state is 93,048. However, despite its high number, the state also ranked the third states with highest rate of decreased applicants (-8.94%) from the previous year of 2017. Imo also has the highest number of registered females at 50,866 while the number of registered males was 42,182.

https://realnaira.com.ng/2020/02/top-10-states-with-the-highest-number-of-registered-utme-applicants/