Economy
AbokiFX Suspends Parallel Market Exchange Rate Updates
By Dipo Olowookere
The popular website that tracks the exchange rate of the Naira to the major foreign currencies, AbokiFX, has announced the suspension of its updates pending when it gets a “better clarity” of the allegation of FX manipulations levelled against it by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had insinuated on Friday that the platform was responsible for the recent fall of the local currency at the parallel market.
Mr Emefiele said it had been monitoring activities of the website for the past two years, alleging that its owner, Mr Oniwinde Olusegun Adedotun, was trading forex and manipulating figures to cause panic in the financial system, vowing to ensure he is prosecuted.
But in a statement issued on Friday, the platform said, “We do not trade FX neither (sic) do we have the power to manipulate the rates as we DO NOT CREATE the rates.”
It stressed that, “We ONLY publish what we source on the streets of Lagos, hence the phrase, Lagos Parallel Rates.”
AbokiFX explained that, “The rates sourced are carefully collated, reviewed and a mean rate is published from the data pool. This explains our three daily updates – * Morning, ** Midday, ***Evening.”
“Sometimes, rates come in late but we have to wait for the full set of rates before they are published, to prevent volatility of rates,” it further noted in the statement.
The website said, for now, it will not publish the parallel market rates but will keep updating its news and crypto rates sections until further notice.
“We sincerely hope this suspension will lead to the Naira appreciation from next week,” it stated, adding that, “With our decision to temporarily suspend online rate publication, we are aware that there will be limited visibility of parallel rates information, which will impact decision making for many.”
Below is the unedited statement from the firm;
AbokiFX has taken the decision today, the 17th of September 2021, to temporarily suspend rate updates on all our platforms, until we get better clarity of the situation.
Final rates have been posted this evening but the abokiFX news section and the Crypt° rates section will still be active.
WHO WE ARE
abokiFX was established in 2014 as a research and information service company, to conduct market research and gather data on the parallel market rates.
We also wanted to provide some transparency around the parallel market with the availability of information technology.
abokiFX purely provides benchmark parallel rate information which helps guide our users in almost 200 countries across the world.
abokiFX does NOT TRADE FX, which we have always maintained in our emails and social media platforms.
We do not Trade FX neither do we have the power to manipulate the rates as we DO NOT CREATE the rates.
We are the only entity in Nigeria that has a full set of parallel rates, right from our inception in 2014 when the exchange rate was trading at N166 to Sl.
We collated data for years before we started publishing, as we realised the demand increased for our historical data.
To most users of our platforms, we are just a parallel rates board but to many institutions, ranging frorn IVY league universities, to global businesses and research centres, we area keysource of data, especially, historical data (almost a decade’s worth of data on parallel rates).
Companies use our data for their internal and external audits as well as planning and budgeting.
We ONLY publish what we source on the streets of Lagos, hence the phrase, Lagos Parallel Rates. The rates sourced are carefully collated, reviewed and a mean rate is published from the data pool. This explains our three daily updates – * Morning, ** Midday, ***Evening.
Sometimes, rates come in late but we have to wait for the full set of rates before they are published, to prevent volatility of rates.
None of our data source providers know who we are or what their rates are being used for. This is to avoid any manipulation of rates.
Our staff have a daily routine of going to the market to gather rates, as all the BDCs in the country have their rates clearly displayed on their rates board and parallel market rate dealers give the information away freely.
All we do is collate all that information and display it on all our platforms daily.
REPLAY OF 2017 vs 2021
In 2017, Nigeria experienced an FX crises and the Naira depreciated to over N500/$1. abokiFX was accused of manipulating the parallel market rates.
Once liquidity was injected, the Naira appreciated and we published the appreciation which is basically what we do.
2021 has seen a similar scenario with the naira depreciating and we have published what we have been given, which has led some to believe we are manipulating the market. Yet no one can complain about our rates deviating +/- 2% from the parallel market rates when they patronise the dealers in the rnarket.
If we do not create the rates, how then can we control the rates. Our only sources of income have been our API and advert sales.
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST OUR DIRECTOR
All allegations against our director are yet to be confirrned but we at abokiFX DO NOT trade FX neither do we manipulate parallel rnarket rates.
Outside the media allegation, we have not received any communication from any government body and our accounts are not closed as stipulated in the media.
WAY FORWARD
abokiFX is fully functional BUT we will not be publishing any form of rates on our platforms for now. We sincerely hope this suspension will lead to the Naira appreciation from next week. With our decision to temporarily suspend online rate publication, we are aware that there will be limited visibility of parallel rates information which will impact decision making for rnany.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rallied by 1.70 per cent on Thursday, June 25, after three price gainers overpowered the two price losers recorded at the close of business.
Consequently, the market capitalisation of the trading platform increased by N43.79 billion to N2.618 trillion from N2.574 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 72.96 points to close at 4,362.32 points, in contrast to Wednesday’s 4,289.36 points.
Yesterday, the price advancers were led by Nipco Plc, which chalked up N31.79 to close at N349.76 per unit versus the preceding day’s N317.97 per unit. Okitipupa Plc gained N18.00 to end at N298.00 per share versus the previous session’s N280.00 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went up by N7.11 to N86.79 per unit from N79.68 per unit.
On the flip side, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc crumbled by 32 Kobo to close at N21.09 per share compared with the N21.41 per share it closed at midweek, and Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 25 Kobo to N2.51 per unit from N2.76 per unit.
During the session, the value of securities traded by investors went down by 86.7 per cent to N10.9 million from the preceding session’s N82.9 million, and the volume of securities dropped 84.9 per cent to 10.9 million units from the previous 82.9 million, while the number of deals grew by 84.2 per cent to 35 deals from 19 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.4 million units exchanged for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further suffered a 0.64 per cent decline on Thursday as the bears tightened their grip on the bourse.
For the second straight session, all the key sectors of Customs Street pointed south, with the energy counter down by 5.22 per cent. The insurance index slumped by 2.59 per cent, the banking space depreciated by 0.28 per cent, and the consumer goods segment moderated by 0.06 per cent, while the industrial goods sector was flat, though with a marginal fall.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 1,493.71 points to 233,580.83 points from 235,074.54 points, and the market capitalisation retreated by N959 billion to N149.888 trillion from N150.847 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained weak after a negative market breadth index, as there were 21 price gainers and 34 price losers.
Aradel and Deap Capital went down by 10.00 per cent each to N1,575.00 and N4.05, respectively. Trans-Nationwide Express fell by 9.90 per cent to N3.64, Regency Alliance slipped by 9.57 per cent to N85 Kobo, and C&I Leasing dipped by 9.48 per cent to N28.12.
Conversely, Red Star Express grew by 9.60 per cent to N24.55, Legend Internet expanded by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, Neimeth appreciated by 7.10 per cent to N8.30, Abbey Mortgage Bank rose by 5.45 per cent to N8.70, and Ellah Lakes improved by 4.65 per cent to N9.00.
Yesterday, market participants traded 393.7 million equities valued at N19.2 billion in 45,813 deals compared with the 488.1 million equities worth N20.9 billion transacted in 46,239 deals recorded a day earlier, implying a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 19.34 per cent, 8.13 per cent, and 0.92 per cent, respectively.
The most active stock for the session was Access Holdings with a turnover of 39.1 million units worth N896.2 million, Chams traded 24.5 million units valued at N96.5 million, Fidelity Bank sold 24.1 million units for N436.9 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 23.8 million units valued at N182.2 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 18.9 million units worth N2.1 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recorded a marginal gain of 43 Kobo or 0.03 per cent against the United States Dollar on Wednesday, June 25, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) to sell for N1,380.11/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,380.54/$1.
However, the Nigerian currency lost N3.21 against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session to close at N1,818.84/£1, in contrast to Wednesday’s exchange rate of N1,815.63/£1, and against the Euro, it fell by N3.21 to trade at N1,566.84/€1 versus midweek’s value of N1,563.63/€1.
In the same vein, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the Dollar at the GTBank FX deck yesterday by N3 to sell for N1,383/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N1,380/$1, and at the black market window, it remained unchanged at N1,395/$1.
Interbank FX turnover at the NFEM window surged by about 56 per cent day-on-day to close at $195.371 million from $125.588 million reported on Wednesday, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Naira continues to feel the impact of rising FX payments and a strong US Dollar amid a sharp slowdown in forex market interventions by the central bank, with more than six weeks of no support for the local currency.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves increased further to $51.142 billion, while oil prices continue to be held in the $70 range by developments in the geopolitical scene.
Meanwhile, in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin sank below $60,000 as more than $1 billion in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with longs accounting for $842 million of the damage. About 148,500 traders were wiped out. The largest single position was a $38 million bitcoin-dollar bet on Hyperliquid. It led at $489 million in liquidations and dropped 2.8 per cent to sell at $59,862.61.
Ethereum (ETH) crashed by 5.5 per cent to $1,554.57, Ripple (XRP) declined by 4.8 per cent to $1.03, Cardano (ADA) fell by 4.3 per cent to $0.1433, Dogecoin (DOGE) dropped 3.4 per cent to sell at $0.0745, TRON (TRX) slid 2.2 per cent to $0.3215, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 1.8 per cent to $561.34, and Solana (SOL) dipped by 0.3 per cent to $62.94, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) sold flat at $1.00 each.
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