After several weeks of a sustained rally, sell-offs and profit taking across major sectors dragged the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and market capitalisation by 0.06 per cent to close last week at 42,014.50 and N21.926 trillion.
Similarly, all other indices finished lower except NGX Main Board, NGX Insurance, NGX MERI Growth, NGX Lotus II and NGX Industrial Goods indices which appreciated by 0.32 per cent, 0.99 per cent, 0.09 per cent, 0.15 per cent and 0.88 per cent respectively, while the NGX ASeM Index closed flat.
Last week, the local bourse could not consolidate the gains recorded in the prior week as investors took advantage of the gains recorded over the past month in booking profit on bellwether stocks.
However, analysts argued that the possibility of a rebound is high, considering the improved performance recorded by a good number of the listed firms in their third quarter (Q3) scorecards.
The Chief Research Officer of Investdata Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion affirmed that the level of improvement in earnings, coupled with the interim corporate actions, and liquidity in the equity space will determine the extent of the market rally when it rebounds from the current pullback.
He also identified activities in the global market such as inflation and oil prices, which are currently around $84 per barrel as factors that would determine the extent of a market rebound this week.
Neymar scored twice as Ligue 1 leaders Paris St-Germain held off a late Bordeaux fightback to take victory. One of his goals was off a pass from his estranged team mate, Kylian Mbappe who also scored in the PSG’s 3-2 away win.
Neymar struck in the first half, firing into the bottom corner after being found by Kylian Mbappe.
The two linked up again for PSG’s second, Mbappe setting up Neymar to score from the edge of the box.
Mbappe tapped in a third but Bordeaux set up a tense finish with two late goals, Alberth Elis slotting in and M’Baye Niang lashing home.
But PSG held on for the final few seconds for a win a that means they are 10 points clear of Lens at the top of Ligue 1, although Nice and Marseille – 11 and 12 points behind in third and fourth place respectively – have a game in hand.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have been in excellent form in the league this season, losing just one game as they look to reclaim the title following Lille’s success last term.
Once again PSG were without Lionel Messi as he recovers from a muscle injury.
Time is running out for Lewis Hamilton to try to rescue this year’s Formula 1 drivers’ championship in the face of the relentless excellence of Max Verstappen and Red Bull.
Verstappen’s victory in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix was his ninth in 18 races this season. No driver who has won that many races in a year has ever gone on to lose the championship. And, as things stand, the Dutchman does not look like bucking the trend.
Verstappen has a 19-point lead, edging ever closer to a clear win, with four races to go, and Hamilton, whose Mercedes team were outclassed in Mexico, has won only once in the past eight races.
“It’s of course looking good,” Verstappen said afterwards, “but also it can turn around real quickly.”
Don’t be fooled by the matter-of-factness of the comment. It should not distract from the fact that this was the first time all year Verstappen had said anything like it, anything that remotely suggested the championship might be heading his way, rather than insisting on the need to focus on details, take it one race at a time, and so on.
Hamilton, meanwhile, is realistic about his chances of winning that record eighth title this year.
“There are still four races [to go],” he said, “[but] 19 points is a lot of points. And he’s had a lot of wins. If they were to carry that on to the next ones, we will be in trouble.”
Verstappen was in a league of his own, winning by 16 seconds over Hamilton
An advantage thrown away
Verstappen’s victory was expected before the teams turned up in Mexico – Red Bull have been strong there even in the years when Mercedes had a significant car advantage over them at most of the other tracks.
But there was a period over the weekend when it looked like Mercedes might be able to snatch the race away from them.
Red Bull dominated through the practice sessions, but made a bit of a mess of the final part of qualifying, and Mercedes took advantage. Valtteri Bottas took pole position with a peach of a lap, and Hamilton joined him on the front row.
Verstappen, meanwhile, could qualify only third, his final session wrecked by first not getting the tyres to work properly on his opening lap, and then both Red Bulls tripping over the car of Yuki Tsunoda from their sister Alpha Tauri team on their final laps.
A front-row lock-out gave Mercedes the opportunity to take control of the race – as long as they could keep Verstappen behind through the first three corners. But they couldn’t.
Having aced qualifying, Bottas made a hash of the opening seconds of the race.
Mercedes had hatched a plan for Hamilton to slot in behind his team-mate on the long run to the first corner. Bottas would tow Hamilton, was the idea, so limiting the possibility of Verstappen trying to benefit from the slipstream himself.
But the plan immediately unravelled. First, despite being on the grippier racing line, Bottas’ start was worse than Hamilton’s. Hamilton could not slot in behind his team-mate because he almost immediately had part of his car alongside him.
With the Mercedes side by side, Hamilton on the inside, what the Finn had to do was ensure Verstappen could not get alongside him on the outside. But he left a gap, which Verstappen slotted into only too gladly.
Now they were three-wide heading towards the first corner. On the outside, Verstappen braked far later than the Mercedes drivers dared – they had no confidence in their car on the brakes into that corner, having struggled there all weekend. Verstappen was on the grippier part of the track, and simply swept around the outside into the lead.
That was the win settled there and then.
‘Valtteri left the door open for Max’
Mercedes are normally pretty careful about not throwing each other under the bus, but the measure of their frustration with Bottas for not being further left so Verstappen had no space was clear from the fact that both Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff remarked upon it afterwards.
“I was covering my side of the track trying to make sure no-one could come up the inside,” Hamilton said. “I was looking in my mirrors trying to keep whatever Red Bull behind and I thought Valtteri would be doing the same. But he left the door open for Max.”
“The cars are very difficult to judge from the mirrors what is actually happening behind you,” Wolff said. “But I think if they would have been more to the left he wouldn’t have passed, he would have been blocked.”
At the same time, when he was alongside, Verstappen still had a lot to do to get ahead, and he did, as Hamilton described it, “a mega job braking into Turn One”.
Hamilton out of options
Had they kept the one-two through the first lap, Mercedes might even have been able to hold off Verstappen for the win, despite his pace advantage – having two cars up front gives a team lots of strategic options, and the thin air at 2,200 metres in Mexico City makes following closely and overtaking particularly difficult.
That possibility was gone thanks to Bottas’ positioning on the straight. Then, to make matters worse for Mercedes, Bottas got rammed into a spin by Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren between Turns One and Two and dropped to the back.
Now it was Hamilton alone, sandwiched between the Red Bulls, and his race quickly became about not losing second place to Sergio Perez rather than challenging Verstappen for the win.
Verstappen was simply too quick – Hamilton reckoned his rival had about 0.5secs a lap or so on him – and he disappeared off into the distance at will.
But Hamilton was able to hold off Perez, despite the Mexican staying out after Hamilton had pitted and building up an 11-lap tyre offset.
Perez caught Hamilton with 12 laps to go, but Hamilton drove well to keep him behind.
“It was damage limitation for Lewis,” Wolff said, “and it was a really tough but great drive to be honest to hold on to second. Probably the car was only good enough for P3 today.”
‘I expect Brazil not to be like this’
Mercedes always expected Mexico to be a difficult race. The title will be decided over the remaining four over the next five weekends. At all of them the fight should be closer, on paper at least.
Brazil next weekend has also been a happy hunting ground for Red Bull – Verstappen won there the last time the race was held in 2019, last year’s having fallen victim to the pandemic. But although Verstappen will go to Interlagos as a narrow favourite, Mercedes should be able to give him more of a fight there.
“I don’t believe in momentum,” Verstappen said on Sunday. “So every single race we have to nail the details, which we didn’t do yesterday [in qualifying]. Things can go wrong very quickly or can go right. It’s going to be really tight and exciting to the end. This has always been a really good track for us. I expect Brazil not to be like it was today.”
Mercedes expect the same, but what is giving them pause is not so much losing to Verstappen in Mexico – that was expected; hence Hamilton’s remarks about being “grateful” he had managed to salvage second – but more what happened at the race before that in Austin.
There, Mercedes expected to have an advantage; instead, their post-event analysis has suggested that Verstappen was about 0.2secs a lap quicker than them in the race. And they can’t explain why the Red Bull had that edge, after a series of races in which the performance seemed to be swinging the other way.
“I am a pretty realistic person,” Wolff said, “but I love motor racing because anything can happen. None of us is ever going to leave the circuit with the the mentality that it is getting away from us.
“There are four races to go, four wins to take and four DNFS to [potentially] suffer. We have to continue fighting. We have a great team. The car was exceptionally good in Turkey [three races ago] and we have it all to win.
“When you look at the mathematical probability, I would rather be 19 points ahead than behind but it is what it is.”
On the face of it, it looks as if Hamilton now effectively needs to win in Brazil if he does not want to leave Sao Paulo with his title chances hanging by a thread. Does he feel that way, too, he was asked?
“Naturally I feel we need to be winning every race,” he said. “We need those extra points to try and regain [ground].
“That was the goal going into the last race and the race before that and here this weekend. But it’s just, you know, they’re just too quick. So, I’m giving it everything we’ve got but unfortunately it’s not enough at the moment to compete with them.”
Super Eagles assistant coaches, Salisu Yusuf and Joseph Yobo, Goalkeeper’s Trainer, Alloy Agu and other officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will Monday depart the country for Morocco ahead of November 13th World Cup Qatar 2022 African qualifying series between Nigeria and Liberia, slated for the Grand Stade de Tangier in Morocco.
Speaking to newsmen, Super Eagles Media Officer, Femi Raji, said the officials will join Coach Gernot Rohr and other invited players in preparation for the qualifiers against the Lone Stars of Liberia on November 13 and against the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde November 16 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
Raji said that the invited players for the Liberia march have been mandated to arrive camp early to enable the coaches blend the team properly ahead of the two ties.
“The invited players and overseas-based members of the technical crew are to report directly to the city of Tangier on November 8, while the technical officials from Nigeria are to report in Tangier the same day.
“All logistics for the success of the game have been put in place by the NFF. Any more information will be given to the media after the Eagles officials arrive Morocco and the team begins training,” he said.
Rohr had invited 23 players with the inclusion of former international, Odion Ighalo, based in Saudi Arabia, but was recalled out of retirement for the final matches of the first phase of the World Cup qualifiers.
Meanwhile, Tunisia’s Youssef Essrayri will officiate in the fixture between Super Eagles and Lone Star of Liberia, while Algeria’s Mustapha Ghorbal will handle Nigeria versus Cape Verde game.
Sudanese pro-democracy groups have launched two days of civil disobedience and strikes in protest against last month’s military coup, although participation appeared to be limited by interruptions to internet and phone connections.
In a sign of the potential for the coup to unravel efforts to end decades of internal conflict, armed rebel factions that signed a peace deal last year rejected the coup and called for the ending of a state of emergency.
The commander of the powerful Rapid Support Forces, who is the No. 2 man in Sudan’s military, came out in support of the takeover in a midnight speech posted on Facebook.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s moves “came to correct the course of the people’s revolution, and preserve the security and stability of the country,” said General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, Burhan’s deputy on the now-dissolved Sovereign Council.
Local resistance committees and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which led demonstrations in an uprising that toppled long-serving autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019, are organising a campaign of protests and barricades to try to reverse the military takeover.
People were out on the streets on Sunday in the centre of the capital, Khartoum, although there was less traffic than usual, residents said.
In several areas in eastern Khartoum, across the river in the Ombada area of Omdurman, police also used tear gas to break up protests, witnesses said. On one major Khartoum street, security forces in civilian clothing were seen alongside police, they said.
There were protests too in the cities of Medani, Nyala and Atbara, where hundreds protested the reappointment of Bashir loyalists in local government, witnesses said.
Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has honoured nine-year-old Miss Deborah Quickpen for her heroic feat at the recent Africa Youth Chess Championship in Accra, Ghana.
Quickpen emerged champion in the U-10 category after winning nine of 10 games. According to the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Daniel Alabrah, aside from appointing the Bayelsa-born chess prodigy as youth ambassador, the governor gifted her N4 million cash and scholarship to university level.
The governor used the opportunity to appreciate her parents for training her well, stating every giant begins from the home.
A coalition of political parties in Mali have accused Military rulers of stalling on the transition calendar, which prescribes a return to civilian rule by February 2022.
The Coalition which was meeting in Bamako has demanded that the country’s junta organize elections next year, saying the Rulers are seeking to hold on to power.
In recent weeks, UN and ECOWAS delegations have been to Bamako in a bid to pressurize the authorities to move towards organizing elections.
Prime Minister Choguel Miaga has said that the polls could be delayed for months.
But an opposition activist Abacary Touré said “In case of prolongation of the transition without a consensual debate with all the sons of this country there, we have legal means that are guaranteed to us by the Malian constitution. We will very soon also invade the Boulevard of Independence very very soon to make ourselves heard,.
Mali’s transition was rocked by a May coup in which junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita overthrew the interim administration in which he served as vice president.
An extraordinary summit of Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has opened in Accra, Ghana, “devoted to the examination of political developments in the Republic of Guinea and the Republic of Mali.
An Ecowas statement said during this extraordinary summit, the Heads of State will take stock of the situation in the two member states and will engage in discussions on the subject.
Taking part in the summit is the President of Ghana and current chairman of ECOWAS, Nana Akufo-Addo, as well as his counterparts: Macky Sall of Senegal, Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire, Mohamed Bazoum of Niger and the ECOWAS mediator, Goodluck Jonathan.
The other leaders of the member countries will join the proceedings in the afternoon.
One of the main issues to be discussed during this extraordinary summit is the respect of deadlines set for the holding of presidential elections that should lead to civilian rule in both Bamako and Conakry.
In both countries, the military that seized power dissolved the government and institutions and abolished the constitution.
In the aftermath of the coup in Guinea on September 5, 2021, ECOWAS announced targeted sanctions against the perpetrators of the putsch and called for elections within six months, calling for a “very short” transition.
ECOWAS also decided to freeze the financial assets of the country’s new leaders and their family members, and to impose travel bans on them.
The sub-regional organization suspended Guinea from its membership and sent a mission to Conakry to meet with the head of the junta, Colonel Mamadi Doumbouya, as well as Alpha Condé, who was overthrown and arrested on September 5.
Tens of thousands of Ethiopians have vowed to defend the capital from advancing rebels during a pro-military rally where attendees dismissed diplomatic efforts to end the year-long war.
The rally in central Addis Ababa was the latest attempt to shore up public support for the conflict against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and allied groups.
It came five days after the government declared a nationwide state of emergency ostensibly to protect civilians from the TPLF, which has claimed key gains in recent days while floating a possible march on the capital.
On Saturday, the US embassy announced it was ordering the departure of non-emergency staff, days after countries including Saudi Arabia, Norway, Sweden and Denmark urged their citizens to leave.
Rally-goers held signs blasting Western media for broadcasting “fake news” overstating rebel gains while other signs urged the US, one of the harshest international critics of the war, to “stop sucking our blood”.
Addis Ababa mayor Adanech Abebe said in a speech that Ethiopia’s foes were trying to “terrorise our population”.
She was particularly critical of the US government, which last week announced plans to boot Ethiopia out of a vital trade pact because of rights abuses related to the war.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops into Tigray last November in response to a TPLF attack on federal troops based in the state. In June, the rebels rejected a government ceasefire and attacked the neighboring regions of Afar and Amhara.
Libya’s presidential council says it has suspended Foreign Minister Najla El-Mangoush for 14 days and banned her from travelling, pending an inquiry.
The Council had accused her of not co-ordinating on foreign policy, but the transitional government rejected the decision, saying she would carry on as normal.
The political infighting follows comments she made in a BBC interview about the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. Libya admitted responsibility for the bombing in 2003.
Controversy ignited here after the minister spoke to the BBC about the possible extradition of a new Libyan suspect wanted by the US over the bombing.
The downing of the plane – in which 270 people were killed – remains a sensitive subject here, and a painful one in the US and Britain.
Najla El-Mangoush told us that the Libyan government was very open to collaborating with the US on the question of extradition, and said the matter was progressing.
The move to suspend – and ground – the top diplomat comes ahead of a major international conference on Libya in Paris next Friday. It also comes as Libya is moving uncertainly towards nationwide elections, due in late December.
The country has two competing parliaments and is deeply divided between East and West. With the elections approaching, the internal competition is on the increase.
The Libyan government said the presidential council had no legal authority to suspend or investigate a minister, and the foreign minister would continue her work.
She is currently out of the country and is expected to attend the Paris conference.
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