Market Updates

Nigerian businesses continued to face significant operating pressures in September, with multiple taxation, insecurity and elevated interest rates emerging as the biggest obstacles to business activity, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. The findings were contained in the apex bank’s latest Business Expectations Survey, which showed that although firms... Read More →

For more than two years, Nigerian businesses faced a difficult combination of high operating costs and expensive credit. Manufacturers borrowed at rates that squeezed already thin margins, smaller businesses struggled to finance working capital, while investors earned unusually high returns from government securities. The Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest monetary... Read More →

The Nigerian equities market closed the final trading session of September on a bearish note, as profit-taking dragged key benchmark metrics lower, eroding N425.73bn in investor wealth. At the close of transactions on Wednesday, the All-Share Index of the Nigerian Exchange Limited dropped by 0.28 per cent to settle at... Read More →

Wall Street stocks rose early Wednesday following a stable US inflation reading and data showing better hiring than expected. Government data showed the US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge stood at 3.4 per cent year-on-year in August, unchanged from the month before after a revision to the July data. The... Read More →

Liquidity in Nigeria’s banking system climbed sharply to N8.84tn ahead of the settlement of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest Open Market Operation bills, raising expectations of a substantial cash withdrawal from the financial system. The latest liquidity position represents a 37.01 per cent increase from N6.45tn, according to market... Read More →

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has said it does not have a fixed date for its proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO), noting that the final decision to proceed rests with its shareholders. Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd., disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja... Read More →