Economy
FMDQ Unveils Rate for Special Forex Window

By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A reference exchange rate for the newly introduced special foreign exchange window for investors and exporters by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been introduced by the Financial Market Dealers Quote (FMDQ).
FMDQ said on Monday that the reference rate would be published 12 noon every day via three packages: live fix available at 12:00 noon daily via the FMDQ e-Markets Portal; delayed (24 hours) published via the FMDQ website; and historical, available via the FMDQ e-Markets Portal.
The newly introduced reference exchange rate is called the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing (NAFEX).
Last week, the central bank introduced a special foreign exchange window for investors and exporters aimed to boost liquidity in the foreign exchange market and ensure timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions.
According to FMDQ, NAFEX will NAFEX will “benefit the Nigerian economy in general and the financial industry in particular in a number of ways, including serving as a fixing for the settlement of FX derivatives, promoting transparency and awareness of USD/NGN rates, enabling foreign and local investors benefit from a market-driven independent reference rate and increasing forward contracts usage towards a reduction of investments in currency principals and foreign currency line utilisation.
Other benefits include developing hedge products and derivatives, thus improving the standard of the Nigerian FX market, providing growth and income potentials for market players through the trading of hedging products, and serving as a benchmark for portfolio valuations, conversions, performance measurement and audits.
Explaining the fixing methodology, FMDQ stated that the NAFEX Spot Rates “shall be determined as detailed below and contributing banks shall be expected to submit only ‘professional spot quotes’.
“Where a contributing bank submits an unprofessional quote, such a quote will automatically be disqualified from the NAFEX computation. Contributing banks shall quote single rates for transaction sizes of $5 million and above or as advised by FMDQ, at the time of the poll.”
It stated further that, the polled rate would be based on the “submissions of 10 contributing banks and calculated using a trimmed arithmetic mean.
“Upon receipt of quotes, the individual contributing banks’ submission is ranked in descending order. The lowest and highest two quotes are eliminated from the ranked rates leaving only the middle six rates.
“The arithmetic mean of the remaining rates is then calculated to two decimal places and disseminated as the NAFEX Spot Rate.”
”Where FMDQ receives fewer than the required number of submissions by the time NAFEX is due for publication, the reduced submissions methodology detailed below shall apply:
“NAFEX will be published provided that two (2) or more quotes are obtained on a daily basis
“The calculation methodology shall remain the same irrespective of the number of submissions received. However, under the reduced submissions methodology, the number of submissions excluded on the high and the low side (‘topped and tailed’) shall apply,” it explained further.
FMDQ stated also said, “In instances where there are quotes below the documented threshold, the previous day’s NAFEX shall be maintained and published as the current NAFEX.
“In circumstances of a force majeure event, leading to the unavailability of quotes in the market, the previous day’s NAFEX will be maintained and published as the current NAFEX.
“Any republished rates from the previous business day shall be identified as such on the FMDQ e-Markets Portal.
“After five consecutive business days of republishing the previous day’s NAFEX (in this case, the NAFEX of 5 business days prior), an FMDQ Market Review Committee meeting shall be convened in a special session to devise a strategy for the appropriate determination of future NAFEX during the extreme market condition, towards preserving the continuity of the NAFEX publication.”
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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