Economy
NSE Index Falls as Investors Offload Insurance, Energy Stocks
By Dipo Olowookere
The decision of investors to sell some of their stocks, which had recorded price appreciation in the last two trading sessions, had a negative effect on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday.
At the midweek trading session, profit-taking were witnessed around equities in the energy, insurance, consumer goods and industrial goods, with the first two the most hit.
Only the banking sector finished strong yesterday, closing 0.11 percent higher. But the energy space went down by 1.43 percent, insurance by 1.01 percent, industrial goods by 0.95 percent and consumer goods by 0.40 percent.
Business Post reports that the poor performances of these four sectors weakened the market by 0.44 percent to increase the year-to-date loss to 16.14 percent at the close of transactions.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 117.28 points to 26,339.11 points from 26,456.39 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N57 billion to N12.822 trillion from N12.879 trillion.
Total Nigeria was the heaviest price loser yesterday, going down by N12.30 to close at N110.90 per unit, while Dangote Cement depreciated by N2.20 to finish at N145 per unit.
Unilever Nigeria declined by N1.10 to close at N18.50 per share, GTBank fell by 70 kobo to end at N28 per unit, while PZ Cussons fell by 55 kobo to settle at N5 per unit.
On the gainers’ chart, Guinness Nigeria took the juiciest spot after appreciating by 40 kobo to close at N23.70 per share, while Zenith Bank claimed the second position with a price appreciation of 40 kobo to finish at N17.80 per share.
Access Bank gained 30 kobo to close at N9.85 per unit, FBN Holdings improved by 10 kobo to end at N5.70 per share, while Vitafoam also gained 10 kobo to finish at N3.65 per share.
Despite the loss posted by the market yesterday, the level of activity improved with the volume of transactions rising by 61.38 percent, the value of trades increasing by 55.31 percent and the number of deals growing by 4.86 percent.
A total of 610.6 million shares worth N11.1 billion were traded on Wednesday in 5,031 deals compared with the 378.4 million equities worth N7.2 billion transacted the previous session in 4,798 deals.
Zenith Bank was the most traded stock at the market yesterday, closing with a turnover of 336.6 million units of its shares sold for N5.8 billion.
Access Bank traded 73.8 million shares worth N714.2 million, Nigerian Breweries transacted 63.8 million stocks valued at N3.0 billion, GTBank sold 24.3 million equities worth N695.6 million, while UBA exchanged 16.4 million shares for N110.8 million.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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