The week’s defining move was not Brent’s 0.7% rise on Friday, but its 11.9% weekly slide to $100.8 a barrel. That drop reshaped sector leadership across African exchanges: oil names in Lagos lost a key tailwind, while Johannesburg found support in precious metals, with gold at $4,736 an ounce, up 0.8%, and platinum at $2,070.8, up 1.1%.
For readers tracking African stock markets today, the main lesson was straightforward: African bourses do not respond to one commodity in the same way. Nigeria and, to a lesser extent, South Africa were most exposed to oil and metals, while the BRVM, Tunis and Nairobi absorbed more of the moves in cocoa, wheat, coffee and foreign exchange.
Key figures
- Brent: $100.8, down 11.9% on the week
- Gold: $4,736, up 0.8%
- Platinum: $2,070.8, up 1.1%
- Cocoa: $4,241, down 2.6%
- USD/KES: 129.18, up 0.78% on the day
Oil sets the tone for Lagos, but not the whole continent
Oil was the first transmission channel. With Brent back at $100.8, despite a late-week bounce, NGX energy names had to price in a less supportive revenue backdrop than at the recent peak. For , , TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria, Conoil and Eterna, the weekly crude decline reduces the immediate upside to upstream margins and tempers cash-flow expectations, even if the absolute oil price remains historically high.