Economy
Dividend Hunters Drive Value of Stocks Higher by N49bn Friday
By Dipo Olowookere
The bullish run at the local equity market was sustained on Friday on the back of renewed interest in some value stocks by investors.
As a result, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 0.37 per cent higher to shrink the year-to-date loss to 4.61 per cent at the close of activities.
It was observed that buying interest in some high-cap equities was responsible for the growth and this was because of the positive half-year earnings of the big guys in the banking industry, causing a rush for their stocks at the market, especially by dividend hunters.
An analysis of the activity chart by Business Post confirmed this as three of the banks which proposed the payment of an interim dividend dominated the table.
LASACO Assurance was the most traded stocks during the session, exchanging 90.6 million shares valued at N22.8 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 78.6 million equities worth N1.4 billion.
Access Bank traded 54.5 million stocks worth N357.9 million, Wema Bank transacted 31.5 million shares for N17.2 million, while GTBank transacted 24.4 million stocks worth N649.0 million.
At the close of business, a total of 419.7 million shares worth N3.8 billion exchanged hands in 4,152 deals on Friday compared with the 232.4 million equities worth N1.3 billion traded in 3,377 deals on Thursday.
This indicated an 80.56 per cent rise in the number of stocks traded, 187.98 per cent increase in the value of the traded stocks and 22.95 per cent growth in the number of deals executed by investors in the session.
Seplat was the best performing stock yesterday, appreciating by N15 to close at N400 per unit, while GTBank followed with a price appreciation of 85 kobo to finish at N26.55 per share.
Stanbic IBTC gained 50 kobo to settle at N38 per share, Guinness Nigeria improved its equity value by 45 kobo to trade at N14.45 per unit, while CAP appreciated by 25 kobo to sell for N16.90 per share.
On the other hand, NAHCO was the worst-performing stock of the trading day, declining by 10 kobo to quote at N2 per unit, while The Initiatives lost 6 kobo to trade at 57 kobo unit.
Custodian Investment went down by 5 kobo to finish at N4.75 per share, UBA depreciated by 5 kobo to settle at N6.45 per share, while FBN Holdings fell by 5 kobo to close at N5 per unit.
The All-Share Index (ASI) increased on Friday by 94.62 points to 25,605.64 points from 25,511.02 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N49 billion to N13.358 trillion from N13.309 trillion.
Business Post reports that all the five major sub-sectors of the market gained yesterday, but the insurance index had the highest, rising by 2.37 per cent.
The oil/gas sector followed by growing 1.83 per cent, the banking counter rose by 1.60 per cent. The consumer goods index jumped by 0.06 per cent, while the industrial goods space hopped by 0.01 per cent.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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