Uche Usim, (Abuja) and Chinwendu Obienyi
The Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on Monday released the June pricing guideline for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, directing oil marketers to sell the commodity within the price band of N121.50k-N123.50k per litre.
This was even as it pegged the ex-depot price of the commodity for June between N102.13-N104.13 per litre; while the ex-depot price for collection ranges from N109.78-N111.78 per litre. In the memo to the marketers, PPPRA reminded them of the recently approved pricing regime and provision for the establishment of a monthly price band for PMS, which became effective on March 19, 2020. Penultimate week, the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr Timipre Sylva, said that oil marketers alone would not be allowed to determine the price of the commodity despite the fact that the product, at the moment has been deregulated.
He said the move stems from the urgent need to protect the public from undue exploitation and inordinate profiteering by the importers.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian equities market started on a positive note as activities seem to be normalizing post-lockdown as investors gained N25 billion on the back of price appreciation in GT Bank, BUA Cement on Monday.
This was even as the All Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.19 per cent to bring the year-to-date (YTD) return to -5 per cent, and index level to 25,316.15 points while market capitalisation increased by N25 billion to close at N13.193 trillion.
However, activity level on the bourse weakened as the volume and value of stocks traded stood at 253.30 million units and N2.64 billion in 4,775 deals.
The most active stocks by volume were FBN Holdings (41.0 million units) GT Bank (36.2 million units), and Japaul Oil (25.4 million units) while GT Bank (N887.5 million), Zenith Bank (N369.9 million) and MTNN (N278.3 million) led by value.