Friday, August 22, 2022: The Nigerian Investors and Exporters (I&E) FX Window closed the trading session on a bearish note with the naira slipping down to close at N429.43/$1 from the previous day’s closing price of N429.05. This represents a decline of 0.09 percent. This depreciation in the value of the naira came despite a 222 percent increase in forex turnover.
An exchange rate of N432/$ was the highest rate recorded during the intra-day trading before it settled at N429.43/$ at the end of the trading session, while it also traded as low as 415/$ during intra-day trading. According to data from FMDQ, a total of $161.94 million was traded at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) Window for the reporting period, representing an increase of $111.72 from the $50.22 million traded the previous day.
At the parallel (black) market, the naira weakened by 0.4 percent against the US dollar as it closed at N680/$1. On a week-on-week basis, the naira depreciated 1.5 percent against the dollar. Trading activities at the B2B market show that the exchange rate closed at about N690/$ 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 slightly to $38.91 billion as of August 19, 2022, increasing by $4.7 million (0.01 percent) from $38.90 billion recorded on August 18, 2022.
Capital Market Update
As of August 22, 2022, the Nigerian equities market closed the trading session with the NGX All Share Index (ASI) declining by 5 basis points (bps) to close at 49344.67. The trading volume was 159,993,180 units, increasing by 21 percent from 132,232,997 units recorded at the end of the previous day’s trading. The total value that exchanged hands was N2,049,618,102.8, representing a 26 percent increase from the value (N1,625,929,916.58) at the close of the previous day of trading.
For the sectors under our review, banking, insurance, oil and gas, and insurance recorded a bearish performance as their indices closed in red. On the other hand, consumer goods index closed in red. The Banking index decreased by 69 basis points (bps), insurance by 11 bps, oil and Gas by 7 bps, and Pension declined by only 3 bps. Consumer good, having the only positive performance, rose by just 7 bps.
NEM and FTNCOCOA led the top gainers as their shares rose by 10 percent, while BUAFOODS led the decliners after dropping by 9.92 percent. MBENEFIT emerged as the most traded stock by volume as 43,987,270 units of its stock were traded at N43,987,270. Inversely, ZENITHBANK was the most traded by value as N373,189,523.95 exchanged hands for 16,944,361 units of its shares.
