MARKET NEWS

The official exchange rate closed at N1529.71 per dollar on Monday, down from N1539.23 on Friday with no major demand pressures.

Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed an injection of more than $96 million into the official foreign exchange (FX) market last week.

The CBN FX interventions lifted the US dollar volume, supported by sustained foreign investors’ confidence in the official window, it was gathered.

Last week, the naira strengthened by N8.13 against the US dollar at the Nigerian foreign exchange market, closing at N1,539.23/US$1.

Similarly, in the parallel market, the naira edged higher against the US dollar by 1.90%, closing at between N1,575/US$1.

Meanwhile, Equity market capitalisation dropped yesterday due to what analysts call abundance of sell-side transactions on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) platform.

Stockbrokers processed substantial sell orders, resulting in a downturn in market performance on Monday.

Hence, the All-Share index shed 17.19 basis points yesterday, settling at 119,978.57 index points, while the overall market capitalization dropped by approximately N10.89 billion, ending the session at N75.95 trillion.

Stockbrokers at Atlass Portfolio Limited in a note said on a broader scale, the market performance remains strong as trading activities improved with total volume and total value of all trades executed increasing by 224.70% and 246.87%, respectively.