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Lagos BDC Operators Sell Dollar at N458.20

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BDC Operators

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira dropped further by 20 kobo against the Dollar at the Bureaux De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market in Lagos on Monday.

According to data from the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), yesterday, its members in Lagos sold the greenback at N458.20 compared with N458 it was sold at the previous session.

However, at the same location, the domestic currency appreciated against the Pound by N1 to sell at N566/£1 in contrast to N567/£1 of the previous day and closed flat at N500/€1 on the Euro.

At the Kano market, the Naira depreciated by N1.50 to trade at N457.50/$1 in contrast to N456/$1 it traded last Friday, while against the Pound and the Euro, the domestic currency remained flat at N540/£1 and N490/€1 respectively.

In Abuja, the exchange rate of the local currency to the US Dollar closed flat at N459/$1. It was the same scenario against the Pound and the Euro at the location, trading at N550/£1 and N490/€1 respectively.

Equally, the Naira/USD exchange rate at the Port Harcourt market remained unchanged at N457/$1, just as the local currency traded flat against the Pound at N552/£1, while it depreciated by N1 against the Euro at N495/€1 versus N494/€1 of the preceding trading day.

A look at the black market yesterday showed that the Naira maintained its stability against the greenback at N461/$1.

But at the same market segment, the local currency gained N5 against the British currency yesterday to trade at N555/£1 versus N560/£1 it previously traded and closed flat against the Euro at N502/€1.

Meanwhile, at the over-the-counter spot market used by investors and exporters for their forex conversion, Business Post gathered from the FMDQ Securities Exchange that the Naira depreciated against the Dollar by 50 kobo to sell at N386.50/$1 compared with N386/$1 it traded last Friday.

This came despite the 90.3 percent or $94.9 million decline in the demand forex at the segment on Monday as trades valued at $10.15 million were carried out during the session compared with the $105.05 million recorded last Friday.

At the interbank segment, the Naira/Dollar exchange rate closed flat at N361/$1.

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

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Economy

Wale Edun Rules Out IMF Loan for Nigeria

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Wale Edun Monetary Policies

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has said Nigeria may not run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for any loan.

He disclosed this in a chat with Arise Television on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

The Minister affirmed that Nigeria has no reason to approach the global lender, adding that the nation is currently relying on relatively cheaper borrowing sources from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

He also argued that Nigeria does not have a balance of payments problem and therefore will not need the short-term financing intervention by the Bretton Wood institution.

“I can imagine the headlines if you saw a situation whereby you were saying Nigeria approaches the IMF for funding. But the reality is that, of course, as a developing country, requiring investment, funds for the government, and investment in key infrastructure to improve the enabling environment for business, we do need funds, and we have the need to borrow.

“We have relied on relatively cheap funding from the multilateral, from the World Bank, from AFDB, and the whole spectrum of funding has been used.”

He also said that the country will tap a range of instruments to help finance this year’s budget deficit and improve the economy.

“We have relied on Nigerian savings by convincing them of the macroeconomic plan of the president, and what it holds in terms of the prospects for growth of the economy and business, and improvement of the business environment.

“Of course, we have approached the Euro bond market, which is, of course, the commercial end of financing. So we’ve done that whole spectrum. When it comes to IMF financing, typically financing from the IMF is to help with short-term balance of payments issues and crises.

“In the case of Nigeria, we have a positive trade balance. We have a positive current account balance. Our reserves are growing. The Governor of the Central Bank recently announced that we had achieved upwards of $10 billion improvement and increase in the reserves.

“We need to use equity. We need to rely on crowding in the savings, particularly of the private sector in Nigeria and the private sector around the world in the form of foreign direct investment. We have to remember that at this time, we have had significant gains in terms of improving the economic environment,” Mr Edun stated.

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Economy

NASD OTC Exchange Rises 0.33%

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NASD OTC securities exchange

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose further by 0.33 per cent on Thursday, January 23, as appetite for unlisted stocks continued to grow.

During the trading session, the value of the bourse went up by N7.6 billion to N1.767 trillion from the N1.76 trillion it closed in the preceding session, as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) made an additional 10.33 points to wrap the trading day at 3,120.3 points compared with the 3,09.80 points recorded at the midweek session.

Business Post reports that the share price of Okitipupa Plc increased on Thursday by N4.35 to end the day at N47.90 per unit compared with the previous day’s N43.55 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc gained 14 Kobo to settle at N1.74 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1.60 per share.

On the flip side, Impresit Bakolori Plc suffered a decline of 10 Kobo yesterday to trade at 95 Kobo per unit versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1.05 per unit.

When the exchange closed for the session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went up by 70,008 per cent to 407.4 million units from the 581,160 units transacted a day earlier.

Equally, the value of shares traded during the session jumped by 16,665.9 per cent to N391.2 million from the N2.3 million recorded at midweek, and the number of deals increased by 65 per cent to 30 deals from the 20 deals posted on Wednesday.

Impresit Bakolori Plc topped the activity chart as the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 406.5 million units worth N386.1 million, followed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.3 million units valued at N170.4 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.3 million.

However, Impresit Bakolori Plc snatched the top spot as most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 406.5 million units worth N386.1 million, as Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc dropped to second position for selling 26.3 million units sold for N6.3 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc occupied third with 9.2 million units valued at N44.3 million.

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Economy

Naira Firms to N1,548/$1 at Official Market, Tumbles at Black Market

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Black Market

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira recovered about 0.26 per cent or N3.99 against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, January 23 after coming under pressure in recent times.

During the session, the exchange rate of the local currency to its American counterpart closed at N1,548.59/$1 in the official market compared with the previous day’s N1,552.58/$1.

Also, against the Pound Sterling, the domestic currency gained N3.32 yesterday to trade at N1,912.21/£1 compared with Wednesday’s value of N1,915.53/£1 and on the Euro, it improved by N3.82 to sell for N1,617.72/€1 versus N1,613.89/€1.

The forex market may be reacting positively to news that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would launch a FX Code, which will serve as a guideline to the banking industry to promote ethical conduct of Authorised Dealers in the Nigerian FX market, next week.

The code will further reduce speculative activities, eliminate market distortions, and give the CBN improved oversight capabilities to effectively regulate the market.

The bank noted that authorised dealers would subsequently conduct all FX transactions in the interbank FX market on the EFEMS approved by the apex bank where transactions will be reflected immediately.

However, in the black market segment, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback during the session to quote at N1,665/$1, in contrast to midweek’s rate of N1,660/$1.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it was lively yesterday as attention is increasingly centered on potential policy developments under the government of President Donald Trump of the US.

On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to ban the digital dollar and promote crypto and AI innovation in the country.

Meanwhile, the US data released recently showed the “all tenant rent” index, which leads the shelter inflation in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose at a slower pace last quarter. That has raised hopes that the US Federal Reserve will walk back on its hawkish December rate forecasts.

These helped Ethereum (ETH) gain 5.4 per cent on Thursday to sell at $3,394.79, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 4.4 per cent to $260.86, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 2.9 per cent to $1.00, and Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 2.6 per cent to $116.78.

Further, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 2.1 per cent to $1o4,978.31, Ripple (XRP) leapt by 0.7 per cent to $3.16, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 0.6 per cent to $0.3572, and Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 1.6 per cent to $710.31, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.

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