NGX Records 1.08% Weekly Loss Despite 44.97% Growth by Transcorp

By Adedapo Adesanya All is not well with the Naira in the parallel market and the peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market in Nigeria, with its exchange rate against the Dollar nearing N1000. At the black market on Thursday, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by N25 to sell at N995/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N970/$1. It was a similar story with the local currency in the P2P wing of the forex market as it lost N22 against the greenback yesterday to quote at N992/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s exchange rate of

By Adedapo Adesanya The duo of NASD Plc and Aradel Holdings Plc weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 0.04 per cent on Thursday, September 21. The two price losers overpowered the sole price gainer, Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, to drag down the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) by 0.34 points to 805.95 points from the 806.29 points it ended in the previous day, while the total value of the unlisted stock market was relatively flat at N1.139 trillion. At the trading day, NASD Plc shed N1.15 to end the session at N11.50 per unit versus the

By Adedapo Adesanya Crude oil prices went in different directions on Friday amid profit-taking as markets weighed supply concerns from Russia’s fuel export ban against demand woes from future rate hikes. While the Brent futures lost 3 cents to close at $93.27 a barrel, the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures rose by 40 cents to sell for $90.03 a barrel. However, both benchmarks closed downwards on a week-on-week basis, with Brent shedding 0.3 per cent, breaking a three-week streak of gains, and WTI sliding by 0.03 per cent for the week, the first decline in four weeks. Russia

By Dipo Olowookere The leadership uncertainty in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which some observers have said led to the indefinite postponement of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, further put investors off at the local equity market on Friday. Yesterday, the central bank said the person chosen by President Bola Tinubu to head the organisation, Mr Yemi Cardoso, has resumed in an acting capacity replacing the former acting CBN chief, Mr Folashodun Shonubi. Mr Shonubi was appointed by Mr Tinubu to take over from Mr Godwin Emefiele, who was suspended from office and was said to have resigned

By Modupe Gbadeyanka A new multi-currency mobile app, straitPay, has been introduced to offer customers in Nigeria, Ghana and the United Kingdom a simplified approach to holding various African currencies, ensuring the ability to transmit and transact directly across the continent in a matter of minutes. In a statement issued by the developers of the initiative, straitPay is tailored for global customers who wish to spend and purchase items directly in Africa from the comfort of their smartphone. New customers can open a multi-currency wallet with no hidden costs and are able to spend and invest via the straitPay mobile

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria’s inflation rate rose to 11.98 percent in December 2019, for the fourth consecutive month. The latest figure is 0.13 percent points higher than the 11.85 percent rate recorded in November 2019. The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its consumer price index (CPI) report for December 2019 released on Friday, January 17, 2019, stated that increases were recorded in all Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (COICOP) divisions that yielded the headline index. “On a month-on-month basis, the headline index increased by 0.85 percent in December 2019, this is 0.17 percent rate lower than 1.02

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Union (AU) has suspended South Sudan over failure to honour its financial obligations for the past three years, amounting to $9 million. South Sudan will, however, remain a member of the Addis Ababa-based organization, but cannot participate in meetings until it clears its obligation. In clarifying the extent of the suspension, Mr Hakim Edward, deputy Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said the country’s AU membership attained in July 2011 remained intact except that the country cannot participate in AU meetings. “We would like to confirm to the public that South Sudan is one of the countries that

By Modupe Gbadeyanka On Friday, November 13, 2020, Ecobank Nigeria held a virtual webinar to train its customers and other Nigerians in the cadre of employee or salary earners on how to earn extra income. The aim of the programme is to prepare participants on ways to be financially stable next year, especially after the year 2020 has been challenging because of the global health crisis of COVID-19. “2020 has been a very challenging year for most people, fraught with different events both globally and locally. These have in different ways, affected corporates, small businesses, and salary earners. “Most significant

By Dipo Olowookere A strategic partnership has been signed between Fashion One LLC, a New York-based international fashion, entertainment and lifestyle television network, and Virtual Xchange Group, Africa’s leading creative, production and events company. The deal is expected to make African viewers be at the forefront of the latest fashion and lifestyle trends, with Virtual Xchange Group and Fashion One collaborating on the production of bespoke content for African audiences besides showcasing Fashion One’s industry-leading global content. Virtual Xchange Group will also engage a broader audience through collaborative marketing activity on digital platforms. The partnership means that Fashion One will

**Assures Deployment of Robust Digital Platforms for Better Customer Experience By Modupe Gbadeyanka Asian Banker, at its Middle East and Africa Regional 2020 Awards last Thursday, announced Ecobank Nigeria as the Best Retail Bank in Nigeria. The organisers of the virtual event explained that Ecobank was selected for the honour because of its deployment of digital solutions to meet the needs of its customers even during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, adding that the bank also enhanced its customer experience through culture transformation across the various touchpoints. “Ecobank encouraged its customers to avoid non-essential contact in achieving their banking needs by

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Boehringer Ingelheim announced today new study results from the Phase III CanoTinA-asthma® trial showing that the addition of Tiotropium Respimat® to the maintenance asthma therapy significantly improved lung function, as measured by FEV1(0-3h), in children aged 6-11, compared to placebo (p<0.0001).1 These findings were presented today at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress 2016 in London. The trial investigated tiotropium Respimat® as an add-on therapy for children who were already taking an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS), or an ICS combined with other maintenance therapy.1,2 In this study, the safety and tolerability of tiotropium Respimat® were shown to

By Dipo Olowookere From January 1, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will begin to charge regulatory fees on bond transactions at the secondary market. A notice from the agency said this action is pursuant to Section 13(u) of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA), 2007 and Schedule 1, Part D of the SEC Rules (Registration Fees, Minimum Capital Requirements, Securities and others) which empower it to levy, among others, fees on transactions relating to investments and securities business in Nigeria. According to the circular dated December 15, 2021, a fee of 0.025 per cent would be charged on