Tuesday, September 6, 2022: The exchange rate at the Nigerian Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX Window closed the trading session with the naira losing 0.3 percent against the dollar as it exchanged for N436 with a dollar. This represents the lowest exchange rate between the naira and the dollar at the official Investors and Exporters Window.
Historic data compiled by Rate Captain from FMDQ Exchange shows that the naira dropped on a week-on-week basis, losing 1.3 percent to the dollar. Similarly, on a month-on-month basis, the naira has depreciated by 1.8 percent against the dollar.
An exchange rate of N437/$ was the highest rate recorded during the intra-day trading before it settled at N436/$1 at the end of the trading session, while it also traded as low as 425/$ during intra-day trading. According to data from FMDQ, a total of $63.05 million was traded at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window on Tuesday, representing a decrease of 37 percent from the $99.68 million traded the previous day.
The downward pace of the Naira since the beginning of September has been due to the pressures on Nigeria’s gross foreign reserve.
Trading activities at the parallel (black) market show that the naira has remained weak against the dollar as it closed at about N698/$. On a week-on-week basis, the naira depreciated 0.9 percent against the dollar. Trading activities at the B2B market show that the exchange rate closed at about N705/$ 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 declined to $38.94 billion as of September 5, 2022, decreasing by $63 million (0.2 percent) from $38.99 billion recorded on September 2, 2022. This represents the third consecutive decline in the foreign reserve base of Nigeria.
Capital Market Update
As of September 6, 2022, the Nigerian equities market closed the trading session with the NGX All Share Index (ASI) increasing by 69 basis points (bps) to close at 49644.92. The trading volume was 34,742,888 units, decreasing by 83 percent from 200,919,932 units recorded at the end of the previous day’s trading. The total value that exchanged hands was N639,137,139.46, representing a 56 percent decrease from the value (N1,445,791,939.52) at the close of the previous day of trading.
There was a mixed performance for the sectors under our purview as the indices for three sectors closed green, one stabilized, and the last sector closed red. The Banking index, having the highest increase, went up by 131bps, Pension by 62bps, and Consumer Goods by 16bps. The oil and Gas index remained stable while the Insurance index decreased by 6bps.
NEM stock led the top gainers as the share price rose by 8.53 percent, while DANGSUGAR led the decliners after dropping by -212 percent. ETI emerged as the most traded stock by volume as 7,114,056 units of its stock were traded at N78,256,448.80. On the other hand, ZENITHBANK was the most traded by value as N101,589,052 exchanged hands for 5,028,730 units of its shares.
