Thursday, August 26, 2022: The Nigerian Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX Window closed the trading session on a bullish note with the naira appreciating to close at N430.33/$1 from the previous day’s closing price of N430.67. This represents an increase of 0.08 percent. This appreciation in the value of the naira at the official market came despite a 0.7 percent decrease in forex turnover.
An exchange rate of N444/$ was the highest rate recorded during the intra-day trading before it settled at N430.67/$ at the end of the trading session, while it also traded as low as 417/$ during intra-day trading. According to data from FMDQ, a total of $82.38 million was traded at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window for the reporting period, representing a decrease of $500 thousand from the $82.88 million traded the previous day.
At the parallel (black) market, the naira weakened by 0.14 percent against the US dollar as it closed at N696/$1. On a week-on-week basis, the naira depreciated 3.1 percent against the dollar. Trading activities at the B2B market show that the exchange rate closed at about N703/$ for the same period being reported. This is based on the information obtained from forex marketers in Lagos.
Foreign Reserves
According to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the gross foreign reserve ticked up to $38.947 as of August 25, 2022, increasing by $7 million (0.02 percent) from $38.940 billion recorded on August 24, 2022.
Capital Market Update
As of August 26, 2022, the Nigerian equities market closed the trading session with the NGX All Share Index (ASI) declining by 4 basis points (bps) to close at 49682.15. The trading volume was 193,512,172 units, increasing by 74 percent from 110,917,816 units recorded at the end of the previous day’s trading. The total value that exchanged hands was N4,640,951,490.99, representing a 19 percent increase from the value (N3,897,334,366.86) at the close of the previous day of trading.
There was a mixed performance for the sectors under our purview as three indices closed in green while two in red. The Insurance, Consumer Goods, Pension, and Oil and Gas indices gained 69bps, 51bps, 19bps, and 16bps respectively. On the other hand, the Banking index closed by declining 67bps.
JAPAULGOLD stock led the top gainers as its shares rose by 9.68 percent, while ELLAHLAKES led the decliners after dropping by 10 percent. JAIZBANK emerged as the most traded stock by volume as 45,911,264 units of its stock were traded at N39,048,788.47. On the other hand, FBNH was the most traded by value as N270,977,394.40 exchanged hands for 24,946,797 units of its shares.
