Economy
Naira Strengthens by 1.8% at NAFEM as FX Supply Surges 182%
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira closed the week on a strong foot against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) segment of the foreign exchange (FX) on Friday, February 2, as a flush of FX entered into the market following efforts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to boost liquidity.
According to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency appreciated against the greenback yesterday by 1.8 per cent or N57.54 to sell for N1,4535.53/$1 compared with the preceding day’s value of N1,461.90/$1.
However, the Naira depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N64.12 to settle at N1,790.71/£1 versus Thursday’s closing price of N1,726.59/£1 and against the Euro, it shrank by N55.31 to trade at N1,530.65/€1, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,475.34/€1.
It was observed that the supply of forex into the spot market improved on Friday by $284.27 or 182.4 per cent to $440.13 million from $155.86 million.
The market has been faced with supply woes and a mounting backlog that is worrying investors. However, recent policy moves by the CBN has seen the market work towards stability with one of the directives was warning banks to sell their excess Dollar to stop them from hoarding for profit.
The CBN mandates that banks’ Net Open Position (NOP) must not exceed 20 per cent short or 0 per cent long of the bank’s shareholders’ funds.
A look at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) forex window, the value of the Nigerian currency slumped against the US Dollar yesterday by N58 to quote at N1,409/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,351/$1.
But in the black market, the Nigerian currency further improved its value against its American currency by N50 to trade at N1,410/$1, in contrast to the N1,460/$1 it was traded a day earlier.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market saw Bitcoin (BTC) rise by 0.3 per cent to $43,174.11 as traders were eager to find out whether the next few weeks would see the bull run continue or if there was more pain ahead.
Cardano (ADA) recorded a 1.7 per cent increase to sell at $0.5171, Ethereum (ETH) went up by 0.9 per cent to $2,321.74, Litecoin (LTC) grew by 0.5 per cent to $68.24, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 0.2 per cent to $99.47, and Binance Coin (BNB) logged a 0.1 per cent appreciation to trade at $302.37.
On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) made a 0.7 per cent fall to trade at $0.0792, and Ripple (XRP) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $0.5061, while Binance USD (BUSD) and the US Dollar Tether (USDT) closed flat at $1.00 each.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria met its production quota set by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as crude oil and condensate production soared to an average of 1,735,398 barrels per day in June 2026, representing positive growth for a fourth consecutive month.
This is according to a statement released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and signed by its Head of Media and Corporate Communications, Mr Eniola Akinkuotu, on Sunday.
The regulator noted that in June, crude oil production hit 1.56 million barrels per day while 0.18 million barrels per day of condensates were produced. The commission revealed that Nigeria met 104 per cent of the 1.5 million barrels per day crude oil production quota set by OPEC.
Business Post reports that OPEC quota doesn’t account for condensates in its count.
In strict crude oil terms (excluding condensates), the 1.56 million daily average production Nigeria witnessed in June is the highest that Africa’s biggest oil producer has recorded since April 2020, thus representing a 74-month high.
In June, NUPRC noted that the peak combined crude oil and condensate production was 1.89 million barrels per day, reflecting Nigeria’s potential to reach 2 million barrels per day in the near term. However, the lowest production was 1.57 million barrels per day for the period in review.
According to the upstream regulator, the improved performance was primarily driven by stable production operations across most producing assets and the absence of any major pipeline outages during the period under review.
This enhanced operational stability supported improved production uptime and crude evacuation efficiency.
Nigeria, which is Africa’s biggest oil producer, has not been able to top its record-high production of 2.5 million barrels per day recorded in 2025 due to challenges ranging from underinvestment to oil theft.
By Dipo Olowookere
On the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited last week, investors transacted 3.648 billion shares worth N220.568 billion in 251,861 deals compared with the 3.821 billion shares valued at N154.393 billion traded in 258,567 deals a week earlier.
Analysis showed that financial stocks led the activity chart with 2.899 billion units sold for N147.360 billion in 106,603 deals, accounting for 79.48 per cent and 66.81 per cent of the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Services equities recorded a turnover of 164.914 million units valued at N3.615 billion in 16,375 deals, and the consumer goods shares exchanged 157.451 million units worth N7.777 billion in 27,950 deals.
First Holdco, Zenith Bank, and Fidelity Bank were the busiest stocks for the five-day trading week, trading 1.745 billion units valued at N121.828 billion in 31,053 deals, contributing 47.85 per cent and 55.23 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
Business Post reports that 60 equities appreciated during the week versus 22 equities in the previous week, 28 shares depreciated versus 57 shares of the preceding week, and 58 stocks closed flat versus 67 stocks of the previous week.
International Breweries gained 40.00 per cent to trade at N13.30, RT Briscoe expanded by 32.02 per cent to N13.40, Livestock Feeds improved by 28.47 per cent to N9.25, First Holdco chalked up 25.82 per cent to close at N69.20, and Abbey Bank rose by 23.65 per cent to N9.15.
On the flip side, McNichols lost 28.57 per cent to finish at N5.00, Thomas Wyatt gave up 11.64 per cent to quote at N2.43, Geregu Power declined by 10.00 per cent to N825.70, CAP shed 9.99 per cent to settle at N157.60, and Guinness Nigeria also slipped by 9.99 per cent to N329.00.
Customs Street was under buying pressure last week, making the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation close higher by 6.35 per cent to 243,798.76 points and N156.445 trillion, respectively.
In the same vein, all other indices finished higher apart from the growth and sovereign bond indices, which depreciated by 7.43 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 2.30 per cent, spurring the NASD Security Index (NSI) to close higher by 96.61 points to 4,296.34 points from 4,199.73 points, and raising the market capitalisation by N57.99 billion to N2.578 trillion from N2.521 trillion.
The market was up yesterday despite a lower activity level, as the volume of securities traded slumped by 94.7 per cent to 1.3 million units from the previous 23.9 million units. The value of securities slipped by 57.2 per cent to N29.2 million from the preceding session’s N68.2 million, while the number of deals executed by market participants increased by 6.7 per cent to 32 deals from the 30 deals carried out on Thursday.
At the close of transactions, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion in trades, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 70.8 million units traded for N4.9 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
During the trading day, there were three price gainers and two price losers, led by Afriland Properties Plc, which shed N1.48 to sell at N15.17 per share compared with the previous session’s N16.65 per share, and Food Concepts Plc, which slid by 7 Kobo to close at N2.69 per unit versus N2.76 per unit.
Conversely, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by N9.50 to trade at N150.00 per share compared with Thursday’s closing price of N140.50 per share, CSCS Plc went up by N7.95 to N89.65 per unit from N81.70 per unit, and 11 Plc soared by N6.94 to N206.95 per share from N200.01 per share.
