NASD Exchange Closes Flat Thursday

By Dipo Olowookere The regulator of the stock market in Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Regulation Limited (RegCo), has announced its intention to change rules guiding free-float for companies listed on the NGX Limited. In a notice obtained by Business Post, the organisation further said it wants to amend the cross-border listing rules and develop guidelines for migrating listed securities from one board of the bourse to another. At the moment, the exchange does not have rules regulating the migration of listed securities from one board to another, prompting the regulator to “address this lacuna and to foster NGX’s commitment

By Adedapo Adesanya Though the supply of foreign exchange (FX) in Nigeria has remained low, the Naira closed stronger against the United States Dollar in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) and the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segments on Wednesday, September 20, and maintained stability in the parallel market. According to data obtained from FMDQ Securities Exchange, the local currency appreciated against the Dollar in the midweek session by 0.76 per cent or N5.89 to sell for N770.71/$1 versus the previous rate of N776.60/$1 amid a decline in the value of forex transactions by 9.4 per cent or $6.65 million to $64.36 million

By Adedapo Adesanya President Bola Tinubu has been charged by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to investigate the allegations that over $15 billion of oil revenues and N200 billion budgeted to repair the refineries are missing and unaccounted for between 2020 and 2021, as documented by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). In the letter dated September 23 and signed by SERAP deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation urged him to “name and shame anyone suspected to be responsible for the missing and unaccounted for public funds and to ensure their effective prosecution as well as

By Dipo Olowookere The treasury bills market was slightly depressed on Thursday with bearish sentiment dominating the market space. According to analysts at Zedcrest Research, most trading activities at the market yesterday were tilted towards the short end of the curve. The medium to long end of curve remained muted due to the floatation of another OMO auction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). This was part of efforts by the central bank to mop up inflows from corresponding maturing OMO T-bills and lingering excess cash from FAAC disbursements. Business Post reports that during the exercise, the apex bank

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A request for the listing of its N10 billion rights issue on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has been filed by Transcorp Hotels Plc. The application was submitted by the hospitality company through its stockbroker, United Capital Securities Limited. According to a notice dated Tuesday, July 14, 2020, and signed by the Head of Listings Regulation at the exchange, Mr Godstime Iwenekhai, the company wants the rights issue to be admitted on the NSE trading platform after they must have been allotted to shareholders. Recently, shareholders of Transcorp Hotels authorised the board to go ahead with the

By Adedapo Adesanya The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said that Nigeria had 154.9 million active internet subscribers at the end of 2022 compared to 142 million recorded at the end of 2021. The NBS stated the figures in its Telecoms Data: Active Voice and Internet per State, Porting and Tariff Information report for the last quarter of 2022. This represents a 9.07 per cent increase in active internet subscriptions year-on-year, while on a quarter-on-quarter basis, internet subscriptions grew by 1.35 per cent, it stated. There were 222.6 million telephone subscribers in Nigeria as of the end of 2022,

By Dipo Olowookere Activities resumed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, but when the market closed for the day, it was pointing south. The poor performance of the NSE yesterday, which was in contrast to the gains of last session on Friday, was caused by profit taking by investors in the later part of the day. The market was looking like it would sustain the rally of Friday until it succumbed to selling pressure. By the time the closing gong was hit, the NSE was down by 0.40 percent, expanding the year-to-date loss to 11.52

By Adedapo Adesanya The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has announced its intention to release very soon a television documentary on prominent Nigerians who owe the larger part of a N5 trillion debt, stating that the debtors are top public office holders in the country. This was reportedly disclosed by the corporation’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ahmed Kuru, who was a guest speaker at the July 2019 edition of the breakfast meeting organized by the Nigerian–American Chamber of Commerce. According to the AMCON boss, a major source of concern is that only 350 Nigerians owe 80 percent of

By Dipo Olowookere The list of top 10 biggest beer drinking countries in Africa has been released by a market research group called Global Data, formerly known as Canadean and the lead spot was occupied by Nigeria, the most populous nation in the continent. As a result of its population, Nigeria led the chart with 12.28 litres of beer consumed per year. Beer makes up just 16 percent of alcohol consumption in Nigeria, while other drinks make up 84 percent due to the high popularity of home-brewed beverages. Africa is by far the fastest growing region for beer consumption and

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Last week, continued selloffs dragged the market return for the year deep into the negative territory. The release of some impressive financial scorecards and dividend declaration failed to spur positive investor sentiment in the market. During the week, several counters reached their year low points and are trading at attractive prices. Also, market heavyweight, Dangote Cement, dipped significantly last week, creating room for bargain hunting on the counter. These attractive prices are expected to spur bargain hunting activities in the market, ensuring a positive close, according to analysts at Meristem Research. The investment research firm has picked

By Jerome-Mario Utomi The latest report published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on its website which among other things noted that the unemployment rate in Nigeria rose from 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33 per cent has helped Nigerians see clearly how the deck is stacked against the poor and the disadvantaged. Aside from making it the second-highest on the global list, the NBS report, going by analysis, shows that ‘more than 60 per cent of Nigeria’s working-age population is younger than 34. Unemployment for people aged 15 to 24 stood at 53.4