Wednesday, September 7, 2022: The exchange rate at the Nigerian Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX Window closed the trading session with the naira losing 0.11 percent against the dollar as it exchanged for N436.50/$1. Although, at the beginning of the trading session the naira gained 0.9 percent against the dollar before sliding down from the opening price of 431.88/$1.
Historic data compiled by Rate Captain from FMDQ Exchange shows that the naira depreciated 1.6 percent on a week-on-week basis. Similarly, the dollar gained 1.3 percent against the naira on a month-on-month basis.
An exchange rate of N437.50/$ was the highest rate recorded during the intra-day trading before it settled at N436.50/$1 at the end of the trading session, while it also traded as low as 418/$ during intra-day trading. According to data from FMDQ, a total of $82.23 million was traded at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window on Wednesday, representing an increase of 30 percent from the $63.05 million traded the previous day.
Trading activities at the parallel (black) market show that the naira has remained weak against the dollar as it closed at about N698/$. On a week-on-week basis, the naira stabilized. However, it depreciated 6.2 percent month-on-month. Trading activities at the B2B market show that the exchange rate closed at N706/$1 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 7, 2022, the Nigerian equities market closed the trading session with the NGX All Share Index (ASI) decreasing by 9 basis points (bps) to close at 49599.73. The trading volume was 128,941,044 units, increasing by 271 percent from 34,742,888 units recorded at the end of the previous day’s trading. The total value that exchanged hands was N1,668,083,661.52, representing a 161 percent increase from the value (N639,137,139.46) at the close of the previous day of trading.
Three sectors under our purview closed red as their indices decreased, while the remaining two sectors closed green. The Oil and Gas index decreased by 32bps, Banking by 30bps, and Insurance by just 3bps. Pension and Consumer Goods closed green with their indices increasing by 10bps each.
PZ stock led the top gainers as the share price rose by 9.76 percent, while CHAMS led the decliners after dropping by 10 percent. STERLNBANK emerged as the most traded stock by volume as 26,850,756 units of its stock were traded at N39,610,490.40. On the other hand, ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value as N205,203,900.15 exchanged hands for 10,186,963 units of its shares.
