Naira Loses N1 at I&E on 419% Surge in Forex Demand

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira recovered from the previous day’s loss after closing stronger against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, December 7, by 11.4 per cent or N108.15 to trade at N843.07/$1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N951.22/$1. This occurred as the value of foreign exchange (FX) transactions slightly increased during the session by $1.67 million or 39.5 per cent to $137.25 million from the $135.58 million achieved in the preceding trading session. Similarly, in the official market, the Nigerian Naira strengthened against the British Pound Sterling on Thursday by

By Precious Olisa The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) have expressed their disappointment over the increasing exit of multinationals from the Nigerian market. The two organisations reacted to the planned exit of Procter & Gamble (P&G) from the country over economic headwinds. P&G announced its intention to close down its manufacturing operations in Nigeria and adopt an import-only business model due to the foreign exchange (FX) crisis in the country. This is coming some weeks after GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Sanofi, Unilever Nigeria, Equinor and others have also indicated their interest in quitting

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited depreciated by 0.49 per cent on Thursday, driven by selling pressure on banking equities, especially those in the tier-1 category. The likes of GTCO, FBN Holdings, Access Holdings witnessed sell-offs during the trading session, contributing to the weak investor sentiment observed at the Nigerian stock market. According to data obtained by Business Post, the NGX ended with 29 price losers and 24 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index. FBN Holdings ended as the heaviest price decliner after it shed 9.86 per cent to settle at N26.50, Secure Electronic Technology fell

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices rose more than 2 per cent on Friday after data from the world’s largest oil producer, the United States, supported expectations of demand growth. Brent crude futures settled at $75.84 a barrel after chalking up $1.79 or 2.4 per cent, as the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at $71.23 after gaining $1.89 or 2.7 per cent. Despite the gain at the final session of the week, both benchmarks fell for a seventh straight week, their longest streak of weekly declines in half a decade, on lingering oversupply concerns. For the week,

By Adedapo Adesanya The price of crude oil skyrocketed by more than 7 per cent as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) agreed on Wednesday to stick to their plans of small output rise in April, defying calls for an increase in supply to the market even as prices rally to multi-year highs on Russia supply disruption fears. As of the time of filing this report, Brent was up 7.7 per cent or $4.50 to $115.9 per barrel while the United States West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up by 7.2 per cent or $4.42 to $113 per

By Adedapo Adesanya The exchange rate of the Naira to the United States Dollar moved in different directions on Thursday as it appreciated at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and depreciated in the parallel market and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) window of the foreign exchange (forex) market. The constant weakening of the local currency has been attributed to the ripple effect of the recent Central Bank of Nigeria’s policy to rebrand higher Naira denomination notes. In the P2P segment, the Nigerian currency lost N27 against the Dollar to trade at N892/$1, in contrast to N865/$1 of the preceding session and in

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Hospital and tourism establishments in Lagos State are set to reopen for business after being shut down for over four months by the state government. The reason for the closure was to contain the spread of Coronavirus disease in the metropolis. The government has been reopening different sectors of the economy gradually. A statement issued over the weekend by the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has come up with some modalities to be followed by practitioners. According to her, the protocols and guidelines are meant to

By Dipo Olowookere On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari will present the 2018 appropriation bill to a joint session of the National Assembly. President Buhari, in a letter sent to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, disclosed that he would make his presentation at 2pm next Tuesday. This administration, after signing the 2017 budget in June, promised to return the budget year to January to December. It had fixed Tuesday, October 31, 2017, for the presentation of the budget proposal for next year, however, it mixed this date. This year’s budget was submitted to

By Dipo Olowookere The first movie review platform in Africa with focus on all African movies, Afri Reviews, has called for collaboration. Co-Founder of the platform, Anita Abada, made this call on Monday afternoon in Lagos when she explained what the platform was about. According to her, Afri Reviews was borne out of the desire to create a platform where movies made on the continent and its actors can be celebrated and evaluated. “The West have Rotten Tomatoes, Imdb, Variety, Metacritic and a host of other review platforms that showcase the best and worst of Hollywood. Africa has none of

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reacted to allegations of corruption levelled against it by Nigerian Wailers, saying that the Wailers are paid agents and would fail in their bid to distract the government from its focus. Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor reacted to the allegation in a conversation with the Economic Confidential. The Nigerian Wailers had, in a statement, alleged wide-spread corruption in the administration of foreign exchange and illegally lending money to President Buhari’s administration to support the budget. But the CBN spokesperson said, “The allegations are totally false and fabricated. Such

By Dipo Olowookere The local currency could not put up a positive performance against the United States Dollar at the Investors & Exporters segment of the foreign exchange (forex) market this week. This was mainly influenced by the persistence demand for the Greenback at the forex window during the trading week, which outweighed supply of the foreign currency. At the close of week on Friday, the local currency was facing south by 0.19 percent against the Dollar, quoting at N364.70. However, the Naira appreciated by 0.29 percent against the Dollar at the interbank segment of the market, closing at N359.81.

By Adedapo Adesanya Apple announced its four-model iPhone 12 line up on Tuesday, October 13, bringing back the iPhone’s design since 2017’s iPhone X, which introduced face unlocking and better screen technology. The newly designed iPhone 12 models feature expansive edge-to-edge Super Retina XDR displays for a brighter, more immersive viewing experience, and a new Ceramic Shield front cover, providing the biggest jump in durability ever on iPhone. In addition to more models, the phone came with 5G wireless support. 5G on iPhone boasts improved speeds for faster downloads and uploads, higher quality video streaming, more responsive gaming, real-time interactivity