Friday, August 5, 2022: The Nigerian Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX Window closed the trading session with the naira maintaining its value against the dollar. Although trading began on a bearish note as the naira to dollar exchange rate stood at N429/$, implying a downturn of 0.2 percent from the previous day’s closing price. However, as the intra-day trading progressed, it rose to N428.12, offsetting the depreciation recorded at the beginning of trading activities.
An exchange rate of N444/$ was the highest rate recorded during the intra-day trading before it settled at N428.12/$ at the end of the trading session, while it also traded as low as 416/$ during intra-day trading. According to data from FMDQ, a total of $71.92 million was traded at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window for the reporting period, representing a decrease of 35 percent from the $110.22 million traded the previous day.
Black Market: The rate at which the Nigerian naira exchanges for the US dollar fell to N650 at the parallel (black) market. The naira, which had previously strengthened to N625/$ some days ago, began a downward trajectory, offsetting some of the value it gained against the dollar. However, on a week-on-week basis, the naira appreciated against the dollar by 6.5 percent from N695/$, as of this reporting period. Trading activities at the B2B market show that the exchange rate closed at about N655/$ 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 stands at $39.09 billion as of August 3, 2022, rising by $11.6 million (0.03 percent) from $30.07 billion recorded on August 2, 2022.
Capital Market Update
As of August 5, 2022, the Nigerian equities market closed the trading session with the NGX All Share Index (ASI) rising by 28 basis points (bps) to close at 50722.33. The trading volume was 25,870,725 units, decreasing by 24 percent from 33,877,639 units recorded at the end of the previous day’s trading. The total value that exchanged hands was N 199,448,733.64, representing a 53 percent decrease from the value (N425,003,000.01) at the close of the previous day of trading.
The indices for some sectors under our review increased while others recorded a different performance. Consumer Goods, Oil and Gas, and Banking recorded a bullish performance as the three indices closed in green. On the other hand, the Insurance and Pension Indices closed in red. The Consumer Goods index having the highest increase, rose by 152 basis points (bps), Oil and Gas Pension by 37 bps, and Banking by just 6 bps. The Pension index declined by only 5 bps, and Insurance by 40 bps.
ETERNA stock led the top gainers as it rose by 10 percent, while UNILEVER led the decliners after dropping by 10 percent. HONYFLOUR emerged as the most traded stock by volume as 22,021,700 units of its stock were traded, while GTCO was the most traded by value (N146,872,654.70).
