By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira fell further against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, May 5 by 0.2 per cent or N4.22 to N1,606.91/$1 from the N1,602.69/$1 it closed in the preceding trading session.

Also, the Nigerian currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N4.43 to settle at N2,137.73/£1 compared with last Friday’s rate of N2,133.30/£1 and tumbled against the Euro by N1.51 to finish at N1,821.75/€1, in contrast to the previous trading day’s N1,820.24/€1.

The local currency was under pressure in the spot market on Monday as a result of mounting forex demand pressure amid the slowdown in the supply of forex into the market by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In a twist of event, the Naira improved its value against the US Dollar in the parallel market yesterday by N5 to sell for N1,600/$1 versus the preceding trading day’s value of N1,605/$1.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it turned bearish on Monday as two relevant committees in the US House of Representatives have released a discussion draft of the legislation they hope will establish a regulatory regime for cryptocurrency in the US.

The draft details the public disclosures that crypto projects would be required to make. It also provides for digital assets developers to raise capital under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s watch, or to register with the CFTC to handle the trading of digital commodities.

The bill is meant to finally establish “clear lines” between the jurisdictions of the two U.S. markets regulators, a question that’s been a thorn in the side of US crypto businesses.

Litecoin (LTC) lost 3.5 per cent to sell at $87.05, Cardano (ADA) slumped by 3.3 per cent to $0.6636, Ripple (XRP) tumbled by 1.8 per cent to $2.13, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 0.7 per cent to $0.1707, Bitcoin (BTC) went down  by 0.5 per cent to $94,784.02, and Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 0.4 per cent to $1,818.44.

On the flip side, Binance Coin (BNB) rose by 1.7 per cent to $598.92, and Solana (SOL) appreciated by 0.2 per cent to $146.96, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed the first trading session of the new week on Monday, May 5 in stalemate.

This meant that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) remained unchanged at 3,289.66 points and the market capitalisation intact at N1.926 trillion at the close of trading activities.

The unlisted securities market ended the trading day with no single price gainer or loser, with the share prices of stocks on the platform finishing at their previous prices.

However, the activity chart witnessed movements, with the volume of securities transacted in the session significantly down by 99.8 per cent to 19,920 units from the 8.5 million units transacted in the previous trading session.

In the same vein, the value of securities transacted by the market participants went down by 94.5 per cent to N872,687 from N15.7 million, and the number of deals fell by 37.5 per cent to 10 deals from the 16 deals posted last Friday.

At the close of business, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 265.7 million units valued at N469.3 million, and Okitipupa Plc with 153.6 million units sold for N4.9 billion.

Equally, Okitipupa Plc was the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 153.6 million valued at N4.9 billion, followed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 18.3 million units sold for N699.7 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 533.9 million units worth N520.9 million.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil continued to slide as moves by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) to expedite its output hikes stoked fears about rising global supply at a time when the demand outlook is uncertain.

The price of Brent crude closed at $60.23 a barrel during the session after it shed $1.06 or 1.7 per cent, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ended at $57.13 a barrel after declining by $1.16 or  2 per cent.

On Saturday, OPEC+ agreed to further speed up oil production hikes for a second consecutive month, raising output by 411,000 barrels per day in June.

The June increase by eight participants in the OPEC+ group will take the total combined hikes for April, May and June to 960,000 barrels per day, representing a 44 per cent unwinding of the 2.2 million barrels per day of various cuts agreed on since 2022.

Reuters also reported that the group could fully unwind its voluntary cuts by the end of October if members do not improve compliance with their production quotas.

The market has faced heavy downturn since last week after Saudi Arabia signaled it could cope with a prolonged lower price environment, a decision that offset optimism on the demand side that US-China tariff talks could happen.

Reuters reported that the production increase is as much about challenging US shale supply as it is to penalize members that have benefited from higher prices while flouting their production limits.

Saudi Arabia is believed to be pushing OPEC+ to speed up the unwinding of earlier output cuts to punish fellow members Iraq and Kazakhstan for poor compliance with their production quotas.

Market analysts including ING and Barclays have also lowered their Brent crude forecasts following the OPEC+ decision.

Barclays reduced its Brent forecast by $4 to $66 a barrel for 2025 and by $2 to $60 for 2026, while ING expects Brent to average $65 this year, down from $70 previously.

Standard Chartered has also cut its 2025 forecast by $16 per barrel to $61 per barrel and its 2026 forecast by $7 per barrel to USD 78per barrel . The bank contends that the Donald Trump administration will have a hard time convincing the markets that its tariff-based policies are not recessionary.