Naira Surges to N708/$1 at the Parallel Market

Friday, September 16, 2022: Trading activities at the parallel (black) market show that the naira depreciated against the dollar to about N708/$, dropping consecutively for two days. On a day-on-day basis, it fell 0.7 percent against the dollar due to forex supply shortages in the market. Similarly, it weakened 0.4 percent week-on-week as it traded for the N705 with the dollar. Trading activities at the B2B market show that the naira plunged, losing 5 naira to the dollar as it closed at about N713/$ for the same period being reported. This is based on the information obtained from forex marketers in Lagos.
 
Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window
The exchange rate at the Nigerian Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX Window was relatively stable with the naira closing the day’s trading at N436.25 to the dollar. Although it dropped by 0.4 percent from the day’s opening price of N434.67. Historic data compiled by Rate Captain from FMDQ Exchange also shows that the naira depreciated 1.3 percent against the dollar on a month-on-month basis. 
 
An exchange rate of N437/$ was the highest rate recorded during the intra-day trading before it settled at N436.25/$1 at the end of the trading session, while it also traded as low as 433.50/$ during intra-day trading. According to data from FMDQ, a total of $46.17 million was traded at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window on Friday. 
 
Foreign Reserves
Nigeria’s foreign reserve took a downturn with the gross foreign reserve decreasing to $38.74 billion as of September 14, 2022, dropping from $38.78 billion recorded on September 13, 2022, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
 
Capital Market Update
As of September 14, 2022, the Nigerian equities market closed the trading session with the NGX All Share Index (ASI) decreasing by 13 basis points (bps) to close at 49475.42. The trading volume was 107,494,742 units. The total value that exchanged hands was N1,150,193,486.28.
 
There was a mixed performance for the sectors under our purview. The Pension and Banking indices had a negative performance with their indices closing red. Insurance and Consumer goods closed green while Oil and Gas stabilized. The Insurance index increased by 65bps, Consumer Goods by only 2bps while Oil and Gas index remained unchanged. On the other hand, the Banking index decreased by 139bps while Pension by 71 bps.
 
NEM stock led the top gainers as the share price rose by 8.97 percent, while NGX30Z2 led the decliners after dropping by 10 percent. FBNH emerged as the most traded stock by volume as 12,022,629 units of its stock were traded at N120,665,939.90. On the other hand, ZENITHBANK was the most traded by value as N235,913,370.70 exchanged hands for 11,969,523 units of its shares.