Asian Markets Close Broadly Higher as UK, EU Reach Divorce Deal

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has revealed that a $1 billion facility would be used to provide insurance to more than 40 million farmers across the continent against severe impacts of climate change. Initially unveiled at the Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi in September, the Africa Climate Risk Insurance Facility for Adaptation (ACRIFA) brings together governments, development agencies, the insurance sector and the private sector, said the president of the bank, Mr Akinwumi Adesina, while speaking during a side event at COP28 in Dubai. He said ACRIFA aims to mobilise $1 billion of concessionary financing,

By Adedapo Adesanya The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has expressed its readiness to partner with the Lekki Deep Seaport by promoting the seamless movement of cargo and the efficiency of the nation’s ports. The NSC Executive Secretary, Mr Pius Akutah, gave the assurance when the Managing Director, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited (LPLEL) – promoters of Lekki Deep Seaport, Mr Du Ruogang, led the port’s management on a courtesy visit to the NSC in Lagos. Mr Akutah, who commended the Lekki Deep Seaport management for the visit, said the council would partner with the port in areas that would boost

By Adedapo Adesanya Bitmama Incorporated, a crypto exchange company, has confirmed the acquisition of Payday, a virtual card service provider. According to reports, the chief executive of Bitmama, Mrs Ruth Iselema, has offered PayDay investors $1 million worth of equity in the crypto company at a $30 million valuation. The news comes barely nine months after Payday announced its $3 million seed round and three months after its exploration of sale options was confirmed. Facilitated through Bitmama’s cross-border payments product, Changera, the acquisition marks a pivotal shift from earlier speculations, including a potential acquisition by lead investor, Moniepoint. Changera is

By Adedapo Adesanya A federal high court sitting in Lagos has directed the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over property belonging to Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River state. Chuka Obiozor, the judge who presided over the case also authorised AMCON and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to takeover Duke’s account in any bank in the interim. Obiozor gave the order in a judgement delivered on August 8 to take over the property located on No. 3, Temple Road, Ikoyi in Lagos. In the lawsuit, Stonehedge Investment Limited and Owanari Bob-Manuel Duke, the wife of

By Dipo Olowookere The board of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance (CHI Plc) is proposing to give shareholders of the company some bonus shares. This decision was reached at the meeting of the board of directors of the firm on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. In a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange NSE), it was disclosed that the gathering was conveyed virtually via a Microsoft Teams App, with a quorum present. During the meeting, it was agreed that these bonus shares would be issued only after securing the approval of the company’s investors at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM). At the

By Adedapo Adesanya Saudi Arabia on Tuesday extended its 1-million-barrels-per-day voluntary oil production cut until the end of the year. The Kingdom first applied the 1 million barrels per day reduction in July and has since extended it on a monthly basis. The cut adds to 1.66 million barrels per day of other voluntary crude output declines that some members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) have put in place until the end of 2024. The reduction will put Saudi crude output near 9 million barrels per day over October, November and December and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka An opportunity for Nigerians to enjoy the full benefits of blockchain technology has opened courtesy the partnership between Interswitch Group and Microsoft. At media parley last week, both parties unveiled an innovative blockchain-based supply chain financing service in the country. This novel initiative brings together entrepreneurs, major financial institutions and corporates organizations, all on a single platform to provide end-to-end visibility that will ensure fast and seamless trade financing in supply chain operations. The Interswitch Blockchain Service (Supply Chain Finance Module), built and hosted using the Microsoft Azure Blockchain technology, provides a proven security, compliance and scalable

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices were pointing down on Tuesday as concerns over mounting supply returned after leading producers delayed talks on 2021 output policy that could extend cuts amid weakened demand. This weakened the price of the Brent crude by 24 cents or 0.51 per cent to sell at $47.18 per barrel and battered the price of the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) by 26 cents or 0.58 per cent to $44.29 per barrel. After the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ended its meeting on Monday without a resolution on its production plans for 2021, it delayed

The Naira depreciated against the Dollar this week at most segments of the foreign exchange (forex) market amid drop in crude oil price, analysts at Cowry Asset have said in their report. Notably, the local currency lost 0.24 percent at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window in the week to close at N363.44/$. This was as the foreign portfolio investors demand for the greenback increased during the five-day trading week. In the same vein, the Naira depreciated by 0.28 percent at the Bureau De Change (BDC) and the parallel (black) market by 0.28 percent each to close at N358.00/$ and

By Cowry Asset In the just concluded week, the local currency remained unchanged against the US Dollar at both the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment and the parallel (black) market at N358/$ and N361/$ respectively amid sustained special intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Also, Naira/Dollar rate closed flat at the interbank foreign exchange market at N330/$ amid weekly injections by CBN of $210 million into the foreign exchange market via the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS): of which $100 million was allocated to Wholesale (SMIS), $55 million was allocated to Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and $55

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil rose over 2 per cent on Friday after the United States Congress passed a debt ceiling deal that averted a government default in the world’s biggest oil consumer and jobs data fueled hopes for a possible pause in Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. The focus is now on a meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, OPEC+, this weekend. Brent futures rose $1.85 or 2.5 per cent yesterday to $76.13 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures appreciated by $1.64 or 2.3 per cent to $71.74 a