Unlisted Securities Shed Previous Gains After 0.78% Loss

By Dipo Olowookere The leadership uncertainty in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which some observers have said led to the indefinite postponement of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, further put investors off at the local equity market on Friday. Yesterday, the central bank said the person chosen by President Bola Tinubu to head the organisation, Mr Yemi Cardoso, has resumed in an acting capacity replacing the former acting CBN chief, Mr Folashodun Shonubi. Mr Shonubi was appointed by Mr Tinubu to take over from Mr Godwin Emefiele, who was suspended from office and was said to have resigned

By Adedapo Adesanya Oil prices settled lower on Thursday even after Russia announced a ban on fuel exports, with Brent crude down by 23 cents to $93.30 a barrel while the US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 3 cents to sell at $89.63 per barrel. Russia temporarily banned gasoline and diesel exports to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect to stabilize the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday. It said the ban did not apply to fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements to Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union members, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia

By Dipo Olowookere The regulator of the stock market in Nigeria, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Regulation Limited (RegCo), has announced its intention to change rules guiding free-float for companies listed on the NGX Limited. In a notice obtained by Business Post, the organisation further said it wants to amend the cross-border listing rules and develop guidelines for migrating listed securities from one board of the bourse to another. At the moment, the exchange does not have rules regulating the migration of listed securities from one board to another, prompting the regulator to “address this lacuna and to foster NGX’s commitment

By Adedapo Adesanya All is not well with the Naira in the parallel market and the peer-to-peer (P2P) segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market in Nigeria, with its exchange rate against the Dollar nearing N1000. At the black market on Thursday, the Nigerian Naira depreciated against the US Dollar by N25 to sell at N995/$1 compared with the preceding session’s value of N970/$1. It was a similar story with the local currency in the P2P wing of the forex market as it lost N22 against the greenback yesterday to quote at N992/$1, in contrast to Wednesday’s exchange rate of

By Adedapo Adesanya The Rice Millers Association of Nigeria (RIMAN) has called on the federal government to subsidise rice millers in the country because of the return of smuggling due to the reopening of some land borders and the commencement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trade agreement. The National Chairman of RIMAN, Mr Peter Dama, in a statement over the weekend, disclosed that millions of tons of smuggled rice are being offloaded at the reopened borders on daily basis without any interruption or checks by customs and the security agencies for onward transportation into Nigerian markets. According

By Adedapo Adesanya  Global payment service, Mastercard, has launched a new low-cost payments solution that enables small business owners to move their businesses online and accept a range of digital payments from their customers. According to a release on Tuesday, the SME-in-a-Box solution is powered by Mastercard’s payment technology and that of its fintech partners, including payments and agency banking solutions company SmartPesa, a Mastercard StartPath partner. The solution is to aid small and micro merchants across Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), region in expanding their customer base via digital platforms and enable sustainable revenue growth. The unique offering

In November 2018, Schlumberger pulled out of the Madu /Anyala field development project offshore Nigeria. It was 17 months after the oil service giant had inked a tripartite agreement to be financier and technical service provider on the project, with the Nigerian Independent First E&P, operator of the asset, and NNPC, the state-owned partner. Schlumberger’s decision to pull its $724Million funding for this development in Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) 83 and 85, has been kept out of public scrutiny by all the parties involved. But as the company moves on to another Nigerian field development project, questions are being raised:

By Adedapo Adesanya The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $304 million loan, equivalent to 5 billion Rand, for the South African government to help it fight the COVID-19 pandemic and support its budget. South Africa had plunged into a recession last year even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 started worsening its economy. In 2019, the country registered Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 0.2 per cent, the lowest in a decade, and according to estimates, it could drop to the worst in 90 years in 2020. Latest forecasts show that the second-largest economy in Africa will see

By Investors Hub The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Tuesday, with stocks likely to see further downside following the sell-off seen in the previous session. The downward momentum on Wall Street comes amid continued concerns about the escalating U.S.-China trade war and rising tensions in Hong Kong. The geopolitical concerns have led traders to seek safe haven assets such as U.S treasuries, resulting in a slump in U.S. bond yields. The yield on the benchmark ten-year note is threatening to drop below the yield on the two-year note, which is widely seen as indicator

By Adedapo Adesanya Nigeria, a member of the oil-producing countries under the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, will increase its output for the next three months. The country, which is Africa’s largest crude producing nation, will join the 23-nation alliance to boost supply by not more than 500,000 barrels per day in May, June and July 2021. The decision comes amid expectations before the meeting that the bloc would err on the side of caution as fear over the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic spread across Europe. On Thursday,

By Dipo Olowookere A new initiative called Coding for Employment Programme has been launched by the African Development Bank (AfDB). This was done in conjunction with the Rockefeller Foundation, Microsoft and Facebook at the African Innovation Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. By training youth in demand-driven Information and Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum and matching graduates directly with ICT employers, this new Program prepares Africa’s youth for tomorrow’s jobs and unleashes the next generation of young digital innovators from the continent. Coding for Employment will create over 9 million jobs and reach 32 million youth and women across Africa, a statement issued

By Aduragbemi Omiyale All is not set for the 10th Nordic-African Business Summit taking place in four cities; Harare, Lagos, Nairobi and Oslo at the same time, on Thursday, September 30, 2021. Over 300 business leaders and investors are expected to grace the occasion organised to discuss opportunities and collaboration in the new business landscape. The Nordic-African Business Summit 2021 is a live experience where the four cities are connected through live plenary and parallel sessions. This year’s Summit will also feature a new edition of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) Great Debate, this year discussing the continent’s energy transition