Economy
Stocks Gain N134bn as Bargain Hunters Butcher Bears
By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended bullish on Wednesday after bargain hunters dealt a huge blow on bears terrorizing the market in the past two previous sessions despite the positive news of the appointment of an economic squad by President Muhammadu Buhari and the easing of inflation to 11.02 percent in August 2019 as announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.
The actions of investors in mopping up some value stocks trading at cheap prices led to the 1.00 percent appreciation printed by the market at the midweek session. This led to the market breadth closing positive with 24 price gainers led by Stanbic IBTC and 13 price losers led by Forte Oil.
In addition, the renewed buying pressure pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) up by 274.57 points to 27,681.61 points from 27,407.04 points, while the market capitalization was boosted by N133.7 billion to N13.475 trillion from N13.342 trillion.
Business Post reports that Stanbic IBTC, which topped the price risers’ chart on Wednesday a day after the company assured its stakeholders of its commitment to long-term value, appreciated by N2.45k to settle at N39.95k per share.
GTBank improved its share price by N1.30k to close at N29.80k per unit, MTN Nigeria gained N1 to finish at N140 per unit, Ecobank garnered 80 kobo to trade at N8.80k per share, while Lafarge Africa rose by 60 kobo to end at N15.30k per unit.
At the other side, Forte Oil led the decliners’ table with a loss of 35 kobo to close at N16 per share, while Champion Breweries fell by 11 kobo to settle at N1.14k per share, with Custodian Investment, FBN Holdings and UBA losing 5 kobo each to close at N5.95k, N5.40k and N6.35k respectively.
In terms of the level of transactions at the market yesterday, there was an improvement from what was recorded in the previous session.
A total of 379.5 million shares worth N5.4 billion exchanged hands in 3,923 deals compared with the 198.0 million equities valued at N2.9 billion traded in 3,830 deals in the previous session.
This indicated that the number of deals executed on Wednesday improved by 2.43 percent, while the volume of trades rose by 91.64 percent and the value of the transactions increased by 84.45 percent.
It was observed that banking stocks dominated the activity chart yesterday with GTBank emerging as the most traded equity with a turnover of 98.4 million units sold for N2.8 billion.
Access Bank transacted 40.7 million shares worth N314.5 million, FBN Holdings exchanged 40.1 million equities valued at N216.6 million, FCMB traded 20.1 million shares for N33.9 million, while Sterling Bank traded 17.6 million shares valued at N38.8 million.
The sectoral performance chart showed that the banking index rose by 2.99 percent, the industrial goods sector improved by 0.94 percent, the insurance space grew by 0.45 percent, while the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.27 percent.
However, the oil and gas index suffered a 0.19 percent decline at the trading session.
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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