Economy
FG Directs CBN to Scrap Forex Black Market
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been directed by the Federal Government to ensure that the black market segment of the foreign exchange market is scrapped.
This information was revealed at a press briefing on Tuesday by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun.
The Minister said the market segment was damaging the country’s economy and that something has to be done to put a stop to this.
“The central bank (CBN) has been directed to do this (scrap black market) and CBN has promised to do something by putting a system in place to eliminate the black market because it’s damaging the economy,” Mrs Adeosun said at the briefing.
Recently, the Nigerian government unleashed officials of the Department for State Services (DSS) on hawkers of forex on the streets. During the raids, several operators were arrested in Lagos, Kano and Abuja.
Presently at the black market, the Naira exchanges for about 40 percent weaker against the Dollar than the official rate.
Activities of security operatives on the black market operators have pushed the Dollar stronger against the Naira due to shortage of the foreign currency.
By Dipo Olowookere
It was not a good day for equities on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday as profit-taking activities further deepened during the trading session, leading to a 1.16 per cent loss.
The bearish performance was triggered by the losses recorded by some bellwether stocks like Dangote Cement, Dangote Sugar, Fidson, and six other mid and low-cap shares.
The trading session saw investors rebalancing their portfolios, and at the close of business, Chams topped the losers’ chart after it dropped 8.00 per cent to sell at 23 Kobo. UAC Nigeria lost 5.76 per cent to finish at N9.00, Dangote Cement shrank by 4.17 per cent to N276.00, Fidson depreciated by 2.95 per cent to N9.55, and Prestige Assurance plunged by 2.44 per cent to 40 Kobo.
The gainers’ table had 16 members yesterday and was led by PZ Cussons, which grew by 9.62 per cent to N11.40. International Energy Insurance gained 9.24 per cent to sell for N1.30, Multiverse rose by 8.72 per cent to N3.24, FTN Cocoa added 7.69 per cent to its value to finish at 28 Kobo, and Regency Alliance chalked up 6.90 per cent to quote at 31 Kobo.
The price movement index analysis showed that investor sentiment was strong despite the setback, as the market breadth was positive.
Business Post reports that the loss reported by the stock exchange was due to the 2.18 per cent decline suffered by the industrial goods sector, as every other sector was bullish.
The consumer goods index appreciated by 1.50 per cent, the insurance counter improved by 0.46 per cent, the banking sector increased by 0.27 per cent, and the energy wing remained flat.
Data from the bourse revealed that the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 626.14 points yesterday to 53,124.63 points from 53,750.77 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N341 billion to N28.940 trillion from N29.281 trillion.
As for the activity chart, the trading volume surged by 101.09 per cent to 200.9 million shares from 100.9 million shares, while the trading value declined by 51.16 per cent to N2.1 billion from N4.3 billion, with the number of deals depreciating by 6.34 per cent to 3,071 deals from 3,279 deals.
The significant rise in the volume of transactions was due to buying interests in Transcorp, Fidelity Bank, Custodian Investment, Sterling Bank and GTCO, which sold 61.5 million units, 27.0 million units, 20.0 million units, 18.7 million units, and 11.7 million units, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange appreciated by 1.02 per cent on Tuesday, March 28, following the positive price movements in the stocks of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and Geo-Fluids Plc.
Data from the NASD OTC exchange showed that the milk producer gained N5.00 during the session to sell at N81.00 per share compared with the previous day’s value of N76.00 per share, while Geo-Fluids Plc appreciated by 15 Kobo to quote at N1.95 per unit versus N1.80 per unit.
The gains recorded by the duo further raised the market capitalisation of the bourse yesterday by N10.4 billion to N1.03 trillion from the N1.02 trillion it closed in the preceding session.
Following the same trend, the session ended with the market index, NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI), growing by 7.52 points to 743.15 points from the 735.63 points recorded in the previous session.
It was observed that there was a surge in the volume of securities traded at the bourse during the session as investors exchanged 20.1 million units, 4,734.7 per cent higher than the 415,330 units traded in the preceding session.
The value of shares traded on Tuesday equally increased by 67.3 per cent to N44.5 million from N26.6 million, while the number of deals increased by 227.3 per cent to 36 deals from the 11 deals carried out on Monday.
Geo-Fluids Plc remained the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 482.1 million units worth N544.1 million, UBN Property Plc stood in second place with 365.8 units valued at N309.5 million, while Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc was in third place with 71.1 million units valued at N5.1 million.
However, VFD Group Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 7.3 million units valued at N1.7 billion, trailed by Geo-Fluids Plc with 482.1 million units worth N544.1 million, and UBN Property Plc with 365.8 million units valued at N309.5 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira continued its lacklustre performance in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Tuesday, March 28, as it depreciated against the Dollar by 25 Kobo or 0.05 per cent to settle at N461.75/$1 compared with Monday’s closing price of N461.50/$1.
However, in the black market, the Nigerian currency solidified its value against the American currency during the session by N2 to quote at N743/$1, in contrast to the N745/$1 it was exchanged in the preceding session.
Similarly, the local currency gained N1 against the greenback yesterday in the peer-to-peer (P2P) segment of the forex market to N767/$1 versus Monday’s value of N768/$1.
But in the interbank wing of the FX market, the Naira weakened against the Pound Sterling on Tuesday by N2.84 to settle at N565.51/£1 compared with the previously traded rate of N562.67/£1, and against the Euro, it lost N2.21 to finish at N496.66/€1 versus Monday’s closing rate of N494.45/€1.
Business Post reports that the digital currency market slightly recovered yesterday after the initial scare caused by the lawsuit against Binance from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over the alleged deliberate offering of unregistered crypto products to US customers.
The chief executive of Binance, Mr Changpeng Zhao, also named in the lawsuit, published a blog post on Monday to address the civil enforcement action against him and his crypto exchange, saying they were “unexpected” and “disappointing”.
The Binance chief emphasized that his crypto firm was committed to transparency and cooperation with regulators and law enforcement both in the US and globally.
On Tuesday, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 2.5 per cent to $27,597.01, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 4.3 per cent to $1,790.84., Ripple (XRP) recorded a 9.2 per cent appreciation to trade at $0.5353, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 8.2 per cent to $0.3774, and Solana (SOL) improved by 5.3 per cent to $20.92.
In addition, Litecoin (LTC) went up by 4.7 per cent to $90.76, Dogecoin (DOGE) expanded by 3.5 per cent to sell at $0.0751, and Binance Coin (BNB) added 1.9 per cent to quote at $314.98, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and Binance USD (BUSD) traded flat at $1.00 each.
