Naira Gains at Official Market, Loses at Parallel Market

By Adedapo Adesanya Brent crude benchmark dipped below $80 a barrel on Monday, precisely losing 60 cents of 0.7 per cent to trade at $79.98 a barrel as investors await this week’s meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies (OPEC+). The group is anticipated to maintain its ceiling on crude oil production by member countries into 2024. This affected the oil market, with the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declining yesterday by 68 cents or 0.9 per cent to trade at $74.86 per barrel. Last week, the 23-man OPEC+ postponed its Sunday ministerial meeting

By Dipo Olowookere The positive momentum witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited continued on Monday with a 0.17 per cent leap at the close of business. Buying pressure, particularly in a few blue-chip equities, kept the bulls at Customs Street during the trading session, though the consumer goods space succumbed to profit-taking by 0.99 per cent. But hope was kept alive by the gains reported by the other key sectors of the market, with the banking counter growing by 1.71 per cent, and the industrial goods index appreciating by 0.01 per cent, while the insurance and energy sectors remained

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited posted a 0.25 per cent growth at the close of trading activities on Friday, influenced by persistent bargain-hunting. Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive yesterday after 33 stocks closed on the gainers’ chart and 21 equities ended on the losers’ table, indicating a strong investor. Secure Electronic Technology was the best-performing stock for the trading session as its value rose by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, followed by MeCure, which gained 9.90 per cent to close at N9.21, Neimeth appreciated by 9.85 per cent to N2.23, Multiverse

By Investors Hub Asian stocks gave up early gains to end mixed on Friday after the Senate vote on the tax bill was delayed and a private survey showed that activity in China’s vast manufacturing sector slowed in November to the weakest pace in five months. The dollar held steady against the Japanese yen and oil prices extended overnight gains after a decision by the world’s biggest oil producers to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018, helping support underlying sentiment to some extent. Regional manufacturing surveys also painted a mostly positive picture. Chinese stocks ended roughly flat

By Dipo Olowookere After closing flat for two straight sessions, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday bounced back to finish 1.11 per cent higher. The growth was influenced by buying pressure across the major sub-sectors of the market tracked, especially in the banking space, which appreciated by 4.47 per cent. The consumer goods sector grew by 1.29 per cent, the energy counter improved by 1.08 per cent, the insurance industry increased by 0.63 per cent, while the industrial goods index rose by 0.34 per cent. At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved up by 315.41 points

By Adedapo Adesanya Egyptian fintech platform, MoneyFellows, has secured a $4 million Series A investment to fund its expansion across Africa and various new product launches. With the new round of $4 million Series A, MoneyFellows’ total secured investment has risen to $6 million. The fresh round was from Partech Partners and Sawari Ventures and will be used to expand the company’s operations nationwide in Egypt as well as other African countries. MoneyFellows also plans to launch a slew of new products in the coming months. Speaking on this, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of MoneyFellows, Mr Ahmed Wadi,

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda, has again emphasised that the current infrastructure deficiency in Nigeria can be solved with the help of the capital market. While addressing the new executives of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) in Abuja over the weekend, he said all that was needed was for the government to partner with the private sector to bridge the infrastructure gap by approaching the capital market for funding. “We have a huge infrastructural deficit in the country like insufficient power, lack of good roads among others. We want

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A total turnover of 2.804 billion shares worth N54.776 billion in 17,792 deals were traded this week by investors on the floor of the Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.316 billion shares valued at N13.784 billion that exchanged hands last week in 19,169 deals. This was N40.992 billion more than the value of equities transacted last week by investors on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The Financial Services Industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 2.352 billion shares valued at N8.995 billion traded in 9,364 deals; thus contributing 83.88% and

By Adedapo Adesanya A Kenyan Court has found that Africa’s most valued startup, Flutterwave, is not involved in criminal activities, including money laundering and fraud. The high court allowed the country’s Asset Recovery Agency (ARA), an agency that investigates and recovers proceeds of crime, to withdraw the final case against the payments company. The case withdrawal brings relief to Flutterwave, which has been embroiled in various issues over the last 18 months, including the resignation of its Chief Financial Officer recently. Flutterwave has also been trying to acquire a payments service provider and remittances license from the Central Bank of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka In the first six months of 2020, Fidelity Bank Plc sustained the financial performance trajectory of recent years despite the economic challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the half-year results filed to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week, the top Nigerian lender churned another set of impressive performance, with strong growth in profits and other indices. For instance, the bank printed a 22 per cent surge in pre-tax profit of N12.0 billion as against N9.8 billion in 2019, while the net profits grew by 33 per cent from N8.5 billion to N11.3 billion in the

By Dipo Olowookere Attacks by members of the Boko Haram terrorists group mainly in Baga and other towns in Borno State have left not less than 30,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to flee to the state capital, Maiduguri. This is already causing grave concern to the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, who said something must be done quickly to stop this. There has been an upsurge in violence in the country’s north-east that has caused tens of thousands of innocent civilians to flee their homes. Clashes on December 26, 2018 between Nigerian government forces and non-state