By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira appreciated against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, August 28, by N1.58 or 0.1 per cent to N1,535.61 from the N1,537.19/$1 it was traded a day earlier.

However, the local currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N9.67 to trade at N2,076.42/£1 compared with the preceding day’s N2,066.75/£1 and lost N12.58 against the Euro to close at N1,781.93/€1, in contrast to the previous day’s value of N1,781.93/€1.

In the parallel market, the exchange rate of the Naira and the Dollar remained unchanged yesterday at N1,545/$1.

Fresh injection of FX from investors further helped to ease demand pressure on the local currency as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted another open market operation on Wednesday and offered N300 billion in OMO bills that will mature in 83 days for subscription.

After a successful outing earlier on Tuesday, the CBN floated another single-tenor OMO bill for subscription at the primary market. Foreign portfolio investors and local banks played actively again at the auction, which saw about a threefold subscription against the offer size.

Details from the auction results revealed that aggregate demand was robust, as reflected in a bid-to-offer ratio of over 290 per cent. Investment bankers said aggregate subscriptions reached N860 billion.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it was in red as traders carried out profit taking, turning to gold, which has found a boost over lower interest rates and weaker US Dollar.

Gold had neared its record high of $3,534 hit earlier this month on fears (now allayed) that Swiss gold bars would fall under punitive White House tariffs against Switzerland.

During the trading day, Ripple (XRP) slumped by 3.0 per cent to $2.90, Cardano (ADA) declined by 2.7 per cent to $0.8442, Ethereum (ETH) fell by 1.9 per cent to $4,472.12, Bitcoin (BTC) crumbled by 1.5 per cent to $111,198.46, Dogecoin (DOGE) depreciated by 1.4 per cent to $0.2201, and  Litecoin (LTC) dipped by 0.7 per cent to $112.66.

Inversely, Solana (SOL) gained 2.2 per cent to sell at $215.01, and Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 0.2 per cent to $870.28, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 apiece.

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian bourse further depreciated by 0.49 per cent on Thursday in the absence of a positive market trigger as selling pressure deepened.

Data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited showed that apart from the insurance space, which improved by 0.44 per cent and the commodity index, which closed flat, every other sector was in red.

The banking industry was down by 1.41 per cent, the consumer goods sector declined by 0.92 per cent, the industrial goods counter slumped by 0.45 per cent, and the energy counter lost 0.02 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) slipped by 691.52 points to 140,557.24 points from 141,248.76 points and the market capitalisation contracted by N438 billion to N88.935 trillion from N89.373 trillion.

International Energy Insurance was the worst-performing stock after it fell by 9.62 per cent to N3.29, Omatek lost 8.97 per cent to trade at N1.32, Ellah Lakes depreciated by 8.49 per cent to N13.68, Royal Exchange moderated by 6.98 per cent to N2.00, and Sunu Assurances crashed by 6.42 per cent to N5.54.

Conversely, SCOA Nigeria appreciated by 10.00 per cent to close at N6.05, RT Briscoe jumped by 9.80 per cent to N3.36, NEM Insurance grew by 7.96 per cent to N31.20, NGX Group expanded by 7.94 per cent to N57.80, and McNichols increased by 7.04 per cent to N3.80.

Business Post reports that there were 19 price gainers and 39 price losers at Customs Street yesterday, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.

During the session, investors traded 885.0 million shares worth N28.3 billion in 26,163 deals versus the 682.9 million shares valued at N22.2 billion traded in 28,695 deals on Wednesday, representing a shortfall in the number of deals by 8.82 per cent and a leap in the trading volume and value by 29.59 per cent and 27.48 per cent apiece.

The busiest equity for the day was Champion Breweries with 201.1 million units sold for N3.5 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 102.2 million units worth N2.8 billion, GTCO traded 96.5 million units valued at N8.9 billion, Sterling Holdings sold 90.8 million units for N726.6 million, and First Holdco transacted 46.3 million units worth N1.5 billion.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil prices settled higher on Thursday as Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles and drones overnight, a development that has angered US President Donald Trump.

The price of Brent crude was up by 57 cents or 0.8 per cent to $68.62 per barrel during the session and the US West Texas Intermediate crude jumped by 45 cents or 0.7 per cent to $64.60 a barrel.

According to Reuters, Russia hit Ukraine with deadly missiles and drone strikes early on Thursday, killing at least 21 people in Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said it used drones to hit two Russian oil refineries overnight.

There are expectations that President Trump will intensify pressure on both countries to finally reach a deal after he met with both leaders this month to avoid further attacks.

Traders are also watching for India’s response to pressure from the US to stop buying Russian oil, after Mr Trump doubled tariffs on imports from India to as much as 50 per cent on Wednesday.

Regardless, Russian oil exports to India are set to rise in September, defying the pressure from the US.

The biggest Indian state-owned refiners, including IndianOil and BPCL, had recently pulled out of spot purchases of Russian crude for cargoes loading in October, after the US announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on India over its imports of crude from Russia.

The overall 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods took effect on August 27.

Despite the hiked tariff, due to India’s continued purchases of Russian oil, Indian refiners are set to raise their imports by between 150,000 barrels per day  and 300,000 barrels per day in September, or up by 10-20 per cent compared to August volumes.

Crude oil supply is also set to rise due to a plan by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ to raise September output by 547,000 barrels per day.

Further pressuring oil prices, Russian crude supplies to Hungary and Slovakia through the Druzhba pipeline have restarted after an outage caused by a Ukrainian attack in Russia last week.

Market analysts noted that weaker demand and higher supply will cause oil inventories to rise in the coming weeks as traders braced for lower fuel demand after the US Labor Day long weekend.