FX Demand Pressure Crashes Naira by N1.22 at I&E

By Adedapo Adesanya Trading activities resumed at the official segment of the foreign exchange (FX), with the Nigerian Naira returning to familiar territory after the Eid-el-Maulud break due to forex demand pressure. The nation’s currency depreciated against the US Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) arm of the market on Thursday, September 28, by 2.68 per cent or N20.23 to finish at N775.31/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N755.08/$1. It was observed that the domestic currency crumbled during the session due to FX demand caused by the break, with the spot market recording trades valued at $144.55

By Adedapo Adesanya The value of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange sharply declined by 3.86 per cent on Thursday, September 28, after the shares of VFD Group Plc were taken out of the platform. VFD Group, according to reports, is planning to trade its stocks on a larger platform, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). The delisting of the company’s equities brought down the market capitalisation of the NASD OTC exchange by N44 billion to settle at N1.102 trillion compared with the N1.146 trillion it finished on Tuesday, the last trading session. The market was closed on Wednesday as a

By Adedapo Adesanya The prices of Brent futures and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures went down by about 1 per cent on Friday, due to macroeconomic concerns and sustained profit-taking. Data showed that Brent fell by 7 cents to $95.31 per barrel and WTI depreciated by 92 cents to $90.97. Prices rose about 30 per cent in the third quarter of the year helped by the production cuts by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+). This action squeezed global crude supply. Brent was about 2.2 per cent in the week and 27 per cent

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Vice President, Mr Kashim Shettima, has said Nigeria is in dire need of foreign direct investment (FDI) more than ever before, tasking domestic and foreign investors to make Nigeria their investment hub because efforts are being made to formulate business-friendly policies. Mr Shettima, while speaking when he hosted the management of First Surat Group, as well as top management of MTN Nigeria at the presidential villa in Abuja, charged MTN Nigeria to facilitate and spearhead digital mobile money and digital education. He assured that President Bola Tinubu was willing to partner with various stakeholders in the

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira continued its stellar start to the week at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the foreign exchange (forex) market as it further appreciated against the American Dollar by 1.16 per cent or N4.95 on Tuesday, July 19 despite coming under a significant FX demand pressure. Business Post reports that FX transactions worth $383.59 million were recorded at the spot market yesterday compared with the $95.58 million achieved in the preceding session, representing a $288.01 million or 301.3 per cent surge. But in the midst of this pressure, the domestic currency performed stronger than the

By Dipo Olowookere The local stock market closed 0.21 per cent higher on Wednesday on the back of a renewed buying interest in mid and high-cap equities on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. For three consecutive trading sessions, Customs Street was in the red territory as a result of profit-taking, but gains across the major sectors of the bourse lifted the spirits yesterday. Business Post reports that the banking index grew at the session by 1.68 per cent, the consumer goods counter gained 0.65 per cent, the insurance space rose by 0.18 per cent, the energy landscape appreciated by 0.09

By Adedapo Adesanya President of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN), Mr Adeola Adegoke, has said the group would soon start collecting bio-data from all cocoa farmers in the country. Mr Adegoke said this task would be done in collaboration with the cocoa value-chain stakeholders across the cocoa-producing states and cocoa communities’ traditional leaders. According to him, this would enable the investors, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders to know all the information they need about their cocoa beans, cocoa plantation environment, inputs/GAP, and activities in cocoa plantations. Speaking on Thursday at the first National Cocoa Festival tagged Stakeholders’ Collaboration

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a roughly flat opening on Tuesday, as traders look ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s semiannual monetary policy testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Yellen’s remarks are likely to be closely watched for any clues regarding the outlook for the next interest rate hike by the Fed. Stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, extending the uptrend trend seen over the past several sessions. With the upward move on the day, the major averages once again climbed to new record closing highs. The major averages ended the day firmly in

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has backed the implementation of a $5 billion Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in the country. The President gave the backing when he received a group of joint venture partners made up of UTM FLNG, TECHNIP Energies, and JGC Corporation in his office, alongside Ambassadors of France and Japan, to Nigeria on Wednesday. Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting with the President, the leader of the delegation and Group Managing Director of UTM FLNG, Mr Julius Rone, said that a $5 billion loan has been signed with Afreximbank for the implementation of

By Dipo Olowookere Chairman of Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Mr Oladimeji Alo, has resigned his appointment to pursue other endeavours. The firm, in a statement issued yesterday, disclosed that the resignation was effective from Thursday, June 7, 2018. Mr Alo joined the board of Berger Paints as an Independent Director on December 11, 2012 and was appointed as Chairman on July 17, 2014. Under his leadership, the board implemented a number of initiatives aimed at strengthening the company for the challenges of competing in the 21st century. Mr Alo is the Managing Director of Excel Professional Services, an Independent Director

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Not less than N15.27 billion was generated as revenue from the Ticket Sales Charge (TSC) in the past eight months by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) just as statistics released by NCAA revealed that passenger traffic in the past eight months had hit 2.4 million. At a news briefing on Sunday in Lagos, Director General of NCAA, Capt. Muktar Usman, disclosed that the TSC was collected from both the International and local airlines operators in the country. While N6.11 billion was made from the international airlines, a total of N9.16 billion was collected from local operators.

By Adedapo Adesanya Amid the growing concern of continuous theft of crude oil in Nigeria, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited has said its existence in the country is being threatened. According to Mr Osagie Okunbor, the company’s managing director and country chair for Shell Companies in Nigeria, this has resulted in the shutdown of two of its major pipelines. Speaking at the just-concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference, he said oil theft was one of the reasons that Nigeria could not meet its quota of 1.8 million barrels a day instituted by the Organisation of the Petroleum