Petrol Prices Drop to N164.91/L in August

By Adedapo Adesanya The Naira depreciated in the opening session of the week in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Monday, November 27 against the Dollar by N19.71 or 2.5 per cent as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Olayemi Cardoso, said the lender was committed to clearing a backlog of foreign exchange (forex). “We have initiated the payment of unsettled forward foreign exchange obligations, and these payments will continue until all obligations are cleared,” he told bankers last Friday during a dinner speech in Lagos. However, his assurance could not ease the pressure

By Adedapo Adesanya The duo of Aradel Holdings Plc and 11 Plc landed the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange in the green territory by 0.84 per cent on Monday, November 27. The two energy stocks overpowered losses posted by two other securities admitted to the alternative stock exchange, leaving the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) closing higher by 7.22 points to 864.51 basis points from 857/29 points, as the market capitalisation of the exchange increased by N9.78 billion to N1.171 trillion from N1.162 trillion. Aradel Holdings Plc saw its share price continue to soar as it rose by N28.80 to

By Dipo Olowookere The positive momentum witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited continued on Monday with a 0.17 per cent leap at the close of business. Buying pressure, particularly in a few blue-chip equities, kept the bulls at Customs Street during the trading session, though the consumer goods space succumbed to profit-taking by 0.99 per cent. But hope was kept alive by the gains reported by the other key sectors of the market, with the banking counter growing by 1.71 per cent, and the industrial goods index appreciating by 0.01 per cent, while the insurance and energy sectors remained

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigerians have been assured of seamless transactions by Stanbic IBTC Bank as the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aimed to reduce the amount of physical cash circulating in the economy and increase the adoption of electronic payments takes effect. The apex bank stated that the policy encourages a reduction in the cost of banking services, drives financial inclusion, makes monetary policy effective in managing inflation, drives to modernise payment systems, and enables economic growth. According to the central bank, cash-based transactions attract a cash handling charge for daily cash transactions above N500,000 for

By Adedapo Adesanya The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its stay in the positive territory for another week (Week 9) as it rose by 1.37 per cent. The improvement was supported by the trio of Afriland Properties Plc, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, and Geo-Fluids, while Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc depreciated. Afriland Property Plc gained 16.3 per cent to settle at N2.00 per share versus N1.72 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc rose by 9.6 per cent to N74.50 per unit versus N68.00 per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc increased by 6.2 per cent to N1.20 per share versus

**As Leaders Applaud Performance By Kester Kenn Klomegah Leaders of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, Russia, India and South Africa) have expressed full-fledged satisfaction of the Group’s performance using its current format that includes the Big Five, BRICS Plus and Outreach, and consequently have no plans to increase its numerical strength in the near future. Russian leader, Mr Vladimir Putin, made the Group’s position known during his final media conference held at the 2018 BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. He highlighted that “BRICS is an organic association of countries that have many things in common: they have many shared

By Modupe Gbadeyanka Nigeria’s basketball national team, D’Tigers, on Friday night, defeated its tough West African opponent, Senegal, in the semi-final match in the ongoing 2017 Afrobasket in Tunisia. The Nigerian team won the semi-final match against Senegal 76-71 to clinch a spot in the final of the competition. Senegal won the final quarter 26-24 but it wasn’t good enough to stop Nigeria from proceeding in the quest to defend the trophy they won in 2015. Before meeting Senegal, Nigeria had defeated another West African neighbour, Cameroon 106-91 in the quarterfinal match of the tournament. Nigeria is one the verge

By Dipo Olowookere An opening has been created for budding writers in the country by foremost African financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc with the introduction of the Dusty Manuscript Contest (www.csr.gtbank.com/dustymanuscript). The platform is to allow writers win publishing deals for their finished, but yet-to-be published manuscripts. The contest was organized in partnership with publishing houses, Okada Books and Farafina, and it is part of the bank’s YouREAD initiative which is aimed at promoting the culture of reading. The Dusty Manuscript Contest is the latest in a long line of GTBank initiatives geared towards promoting the appreciation of

By Adedapo Adesanya The federal government has called upon the beneficiaries of TraderMoni, FarmerMoni, MarketMoni under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) to repay their loans in order to enable them to get a higher credit facility. According to a disclosure on Tuesday via its Twitter account noted that the call followed concerns over the repayment of the empowerment funds as stipulated in the terms and condition of disbursement. The government agency added that the repayment will make them have access to other GEEP products. GEEP, through its verified tweet, said: “Beneficiaries are advised to repay their loan to

By Investors Hub The major US index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks poised to extend the upward trend seen in recent sessions. The markets may continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has propelled the major averages to record highs. Trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, with traders reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the key earnings news later this week. Traders are also digesting remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who spoke at the Group of 30 International Banking Seminar on Sunday. Despite subdued inflation, Yellen reiterated her belief

By Dipo Olowookere The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited came alive on Thursday after investors started to show interest again in local stocks, especially in financial equities. At the close of trades, the domestic market finished higher by 0.11 per cent as the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 52.52 points to settle at 49,652.25 points in contrast to the preceding day’s 49,599.73 points. Also, the market capitalisation appreciated yesterday by N29 billion to close at N26.782 trillion as against the preceding session’s N26.753 trillion. The banking sector grew by 1.07 per cent, the insurance space rose by 0.76 per cent, the