By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira opened the week on a positive note, as it appreciated against the US Dollar by N3.39 or 0.25 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Monday, August 3, to N1,364.83/$1 from N1,368.22/$1 last Friday.

However, it suffered a marginal decline against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by 10 Kobo to close at N1,837.89/£1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,837.79/£1, and lost 6 Kobo on the Euro to sell at N1,573.93/€1, in contrast to the previous trading day’s N1,573.87/€1.

At the black market segment, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the Dollar yesterday at N1,405/$1, and at the GTBank forex counter, it was unchanged at N1,374/$1.

Interbank FX transactions increased sharply as market makers’ activities raised total Dollar volume exchanged to $137.048 million, more than 132 per cent above $58.990 million in turnover at the previous close. The surge in turnover was driven by increased deals at the NFEM window. The central bank reported that deal count at the interbank FX window rose to 138 from 67 on Friday.

As for the cryptocurrency market, major tokens advanced despite ongoing uncertainty around unresolved Coldcard wallet sweeps that have drained hundreds of Bitcoin (BTC), while traders are watching whether bitcoin can hold above $63,000 through the US session. BTC rose by 1.70 per cent to $63,765.88.

Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy disclosed Monday it sold 1,638 bitcoin for about $105 million between July 27 and Aug. 2, its third sale of 2026, per an SEC filing.

Also, an attacker has moved about 1,816 bitcoins, or roughly $114 million, from more than 5,200 addresses since July 30 in a fourth wave of sweeps targeting BTC in Coldcard-generated addresses.

Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 6.7 per cent to $0.1959, Binance Coin (BNB) gained 1.5 per cent to sell for $590.82, Solana (SOL) jumped by 1.3 per cent to $73.72, TRON (TRX) soared by 0.9 per cent to $0.3286, Dogecoin (DOGE) also grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0703, Ripple (XRP) advanced by 0.5 per cent to $1.07, and Ethereum (ETH) rose by 0.4 per cent to $1,863.33, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.

By Dipo Olowookere

Bearish investor sentiment on Monday could not keep the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the red territory, as the bourse closed higher by 0.18 per cent.

According to data from Customs Street, there were 25 price gainers and 38 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.

Eterna expanded by 10.00 per cent to quote at N36.30, Caverton also improved by 10.00 per cent to N5.50, Omatek soared by 9.88 per cent to trade at N1.78, AVA Capital grew by 9.70 per cent to N9.05, and Vitafoam Nigeria appreciated by 7.90 per cent to N194.00.

Conversely, Ecobank declined by 9.95 per cent to N80.10, Cadbury Nigeria went down by 9.92 per cent to N58.10, Thomas Wyatt slumped by 9.82 per cent to N3.95, Coronation Insurance depreciated by 9.80 per cent to N2.30, and CMFC dipped by 9.79 per cent to N3.50.

Yesterday, market participants transacted 923.0 million stocks for N37.9 billion in 72,544 deals compared with the 943.0 million stocks worth N46.7 billion traded in 55,480 deals last Friday.

This indicated that the number of deals increased by 30.76 per cent, the trading volume shrank by 2.12 per cent, and the trading value dropped 18.84 per cent.

Access Holdings was the most active equity on the first trading day of this week and month, with a turnover of 166.6 million units worth N4.4 billion. Honeywell Flour sold 93.6 million units for N1.6 billion, Sterling Holdco exchanged 57.1 million units valued at N455.4 million, Universal Insurance traded 51.8 million units worth N45.8 million, and Chams transacted 33.8 million units valued at N152.5 million.

But when trading activities ended for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 446.85 points to 245,730.53 points from 245,283.68 points, and the market capitalisation jumped by N289 billion to N158.615 trillion from N158.326 trillion.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Crude oil declined by about 7 per cent on Monday after US President Donald ​Trump held off on a fresh attack on Iran in the hope of sealing a quick deal that could boost oil supplies from the ‌Gulf.

Brent futures fell by $6.35 or 7.0 per cent to settle at $83.77 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude depreciated by $4.33 or 5.1 per cent to trade at $80.34 per barrel.

Over the weekend, President Trump repeated a pattern that has ⁠emerged throughout the past five months: announcing plans for “massive attacks” on Iran, only to cancel them at the last minute.

The US President on Monday said talks with Iran “are going on ​right now”, adding that Iran faced “decapitation” if Tehran did not agree to a pact to end the conflict.

However, Iran said there were no talks underway with the US and no plans for any meetings, contradicting the American leader who had cited ​talks he said would take place that afternoon as justification for calling off attacks.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it also had no plans to host foreign delegations or send negotiators abroad in the coming days.

Despite this, the renewed hopes for diplomacy in the US-Iran conflict eased some concerns.

Six Saudi-flagged supertankers have changed course in the Gulf of Aden in recent days and are heading to southern Africa following threats by the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen to target Saudi shipping.

However, over the weekend, two tankers laden with Saudi oil crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, while traffic in the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman slowed following reports of vessel ​attacks.

Russia said on Monday it was stepping up protection of ships in the Azov-Black ​Sea basin while also ⁠developing alternative cargo routes, in a move that follows a sharp escalation of attacks at sea by both sides in the war in Ukraine.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC) approved an oil production quota increase on Sunday of around 188,000 barrels per day from September.

This means Saudi ⁠Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman have finished the phased rollback of a 1.65 million barrels per day supply cut ​originally agreed in 2023, when the group still included the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Due to export disruptions from the Gulf, Russia ​and Kazakhstan caused by the Iran and Ukraine wars, successive monthly OPEC+ hikes over most of this year have remained largely ​on paper with little impact on the market.