Monday, August 1, 2022: The Nigerian Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX Window closed the trading session on a bullish note as the naira appreciated against the dollar to exchange at N428.88/$, representing a 0.03 percent appreciation day-on-day. However, it dropped by 0.06 percent from the opening rate 0f N428.63/$ at the beginning of trading activities on the same day.
An exchange rate of N444/$ was the highest rate recorded during the intra-day trading before it settled at N428.88/$ at the end of the trading session, while it also traded as low as 409.97/$ during intra-day trading. According to data from FMDQ, a total of $60.27 million was traded at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window for the reporting period. Representing an increase of 1.14 percent from the $59.59 million traded on Friday of the previous week.
Similarly, in the parallel market, the naira also gained against the dollar as it rose to N685/$ at the parallel (black market). on a week-on-week basis, it lost about 4.6 percent of its value as it traded for about N655/$ the previous week. Trading activities at the B2B market also show that the exchange rate rose to about N690/$ for the same period being reported. This is based on the information obtained from BDC operators in Lagos.
Foreign Reserves
According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the gross foreign reserve which has been crawling upward since June 2022 took a downturn to stand at $39.22 billion as of July 28, 2022. Representing a $28.6 million (0.07 percent) decline from $39.25 billion recorded on 27 July 2022.
Capital Market Update
As of August 1, 2022, the Nigerian equities market closed the trading session on a bearish note as the NGX All Share Index (ASI) dropped by 83 basis points (bps) to close at 49,950.32. The trading volume was 176,053,708 units, decreasing by 50.4 percent from 354,772,588 units recorded at the end of the previous day of trading. The total value that exchanged hands was N2,271,327,374.35, representing a 19 percent decrease from the value (N2,811,462,598.97) at the close of the previous day of trading.
There was a mixed performance for the sectors under our review as the indices for some sectors rose while others recorded a different performance. Banking, Insurance, and Pension performances were bullish as the three indices closed in green, the Oil and Gas index remained unchanged, while Consumer Good index closed in red. The banking index having the highest increase, rose by 19 basis points (bps), Insurance by 12 bps, and pension by just 8 bps. The oil and gas index stabilized, while consumer goods decreased by just 13 bps.
CAVERTON and COURTVILLE stocks led the top gainers as they both rose by 10 percent, while BUACEMENT led the top decliners after dropping by 9.96 percent. GTCO emerged as the most traded stock by volume as 21371040.00 units of its stock were traded, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded by value as it hits N429282785.05 in trading as of the end trading session for the reporting period.
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