Nigeria’s Dollar Reserves Drop To $24.59b

By Aduragbemi Omiyale The online stock trading platform of one of the leading brokerage firms in Nigeria, Morgan Capital Securities Limited, i-Trade, has experienced a technical glitch. This technical issue has made it difficult for its clients to carry out transactions on the popular platform. Morgan Capital’s i-Trade platform is popular among retail investors in the Nigerian capital market, especially those trading equities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, because of its lower fees. The company has already assured its customers that it was working to restore services, providing an alternative to them. “This is to inform

By Adedapo Adesanya Equinor and Chappal Energies have entered into an agreement for the sale of Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), which holds a 53.85 per cent ownership in oil and gas lease OML 128, including the unitized 20.21 per cent stake in the Agbami oil field, operated by Chevron. Speaking on the deal, Equinor’s senior vice president for Africa Operations, Ms Nina Koch, said Nigeria has been an important part of Equinor’s international portfolio over the past 30 years, noting that, “This transaction realizes value and is in line with Equinor’s strategy to optimize its international oil and gas

By Dipo Olowookere In one week, investors bought and sold 2.543 billion shares worth N38.644 billion in 36,138 deals on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited. In the preceding trading week, a total of 2.425 billion shares valued at N22.665 billion were transacted by investors in 33,230 deals. It was observed that financial stocks led the activity chart as usual with 1.721 billion units worth N18.281 billion in 17,151 deals, contributing 67.68 per cent and 47.30 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively. Conglomerates equities trailed with 200.584 million units valued at N1.546 billion in

By Adedapo Adesanya The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as part of the United Nations’ World Creativity and Innovation Day 2021, has opened the application for an Innovation Challenge to support Nigeria’s plans to become a 21st-century digital economy. Themed Inspiring Creativity and Innovation in the Nigerian Digital Economy, the competition hopes to harness innovative and impactful solutions for the development of a vibrant digital economy. The World Creativity and Innovation Day is a global United Nations day celebrated to raise awareness around the importance of creativity and innovation in problem-solving with respect to advancing the UN Sustainable Development

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Barely a week after a 3-storey building collapsed in Lagos, killing some school children, another building has collapsed in the metropolis. The latest property to cave in happened not too far away from the scene of last Wednesday unfortunate incident. Last Wednesday’s collapsed building occurred on Massey Street, Ita Faaji, Lagos Island, while Monday’s incident took place on 5, Egerton Square, Oke Arin, Lagos Island. According to reports, many residents of the property were trapped in the rubbles, while efforts are being made to rescue them alive. It was gathered that the affected house was one of

By Dipo Olowookere A further sale of treasury bills via Open Market Operations (OMO) was done on Tuesday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) with the exercise recording a huge success. It was learnt that the OMO auction was oversubscribed by investors by 153 percent as the apex bank sold N122 billion of the N80 billion offered, with stop rates however maintained at their previous levels. Business Post reports that three tenors were offered for sale during the day’s exercise, with the 3-month and 12-month maturities significantly getting the attention of market players. Of the 10 billion worth of

By Dipo Olowookere Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and its holding company, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, have retained their AAA national ratings by Fitch Ratings, the global leader in credit ratings, reaffirming their strong fundamentals and stability, especially the ability to meet their financial commitments as they fall due. In the report issued on Monday, November 27, 2017, the two institutions recorded AAA(nga) national long term rating, which provides a relative measure of credit worthiness for rated institutions in Nigeria. The AAA national rating is assigned to an institution with the lowest relative risk. In arriving at the rating for Stanbic

By Dipo Olowookere The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has stressed that POS operators in the country do not have the authority to fix or increase charges for rendering financial services to their customers. The central bank said this through its acting governor, Mr Folashodun Shonubi, at a media briefing on Tuesday evening in Abuja. He said the central bank had approved fees that must be charged by banking agents, noting that the super agents, mainly commercial, digital and microfinance banks, who gave out their Point of Sale (POS) machines to operators, would be sanctioned if they charged above the

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Wednesday, September 2 recorded no movement in the market capitalisation and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI). When trading activities were halted for the day, the bourse’s market capitalisation remained intact at N521.14 billion, while the NSI was flat at 709.45 points. This occurred as the total volume of transactions reduced by 96.7 per cent during the session to 1,636 units of securities from the 49,753 units of stocks recorded at Tuesday’s session. Also, the trading value of the day decreased by 79.4 per cent as trades valued at N490,800

By Dipo Olowookere About 120 new 5KVA generating sets were on Monday handed over to all police formations in Lagos State by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode. Mr Ambode, while handing over the generating sets to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Imohimi Edgal, reiterated his administration’s commitment to ensure the enforcement of rule of law and safety of lives and property in the state, just as he said that his vision was for the state to be among the safest places to live and work in Africa. He further pledged to continue to support security agencies in the state to ensure optimal

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks poised to add to the strong gains posted last week. Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to upbeat quarterly results from financial giant Bank of America (BAC), which reported first quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates on strong loan growth. The markets may also benefit from the release of a Commerce Department report showing stronger than expected retail sales growth in the month of March. Geopolitical concerns may keep trading activity somewhat subdued, however, as traders digest the weekend?s U.S.-led