Author: Julius Alagbe

Debt Office Calls for Prudent Utilisation of Borrowed Funds The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Tuesday urged sub-national entities in Nigeria to ensure effective debt management practices to ensure sustainable economic development. The Director-General of the DMO, Patience Oniha, gave the advice at a World Bank assisted workshop on “Borrowing Guidelines for Top Policy Makers ” in Lagos. Oniha said the workshop was informed by the need for sub-national governments to understand that the country operated one economy, with actions of one level of government affecting the other. She called for prudent utilisation of borrowed funds “The other part of…

PZ Cussons, Cadbury Drive Nigerian Stock Market Intraday Loss PZ Cussons, Cadbury Nigeria Plc among other early decliners are driving the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) all share index downward during early trading hours on Tuesday. Bargain hunting is fading as market anticipates the release of Tier-1 banks earnings scorecard for first half of 2025 to be released. Zenith Bank, GTCO, Access Holdings and UBA have sought regulatory extension for their respective audited results to be published. For three weeks, investors have been selling down their interest, and financial stocks – banks and insurance and other non-banks listed stocks have suffered pullback.…

Brent Climbs to $68 over Supply Concerns Ahead of OPEC+ In the global commodity market on Tuesday, prices of crude oil climbed over escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine renewed supply concerns and markets await signals from the upcoming OPEC+ meeting. Brent crude was trading at $68.35 per barrel, up 0.5% from the previous close of $68.04. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 0.5% to $64.73 from $64.41 in the prior session. Moscow and Kyiv have intensified aerial attacks in recent weeks, with strikes increasingly targeting energy and transport systems. Ukraine said early Sunday that an overnight Russian drone…

Naira Debit Card FX Rate for Online Payments Improved Daily exchange rate for foreign payments conducted by banks customers improved to N1542 per dollar on Monday, from N1545 reported last week. According to GTBank, international payment on its naira debit card was consummated at N1542 for international payment settled via Naira Mastercard on Monday. The naira debit card quoted for FX payment suggested that exchange rate improved versus last week. In the parallel market, the local currency traded at N1540 per dollar, gained N5 from last week spot rate. At the official window on Monday, the naira was quoted at…

Naira Touches N1,522 Briefly after CBN FX Interventions The naira gained more than N5 on US dollar at the Nigerian foreign exchange market after the Apex Bank boosted FX liquidity at the official window last week. FX update from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that local currency was quoted at N1526.0940 per dollar at the official window on Monday, from N1,531.5703 the previous day. FX traders reported that the spot rate touched an intraday high of N1531 on Monday in the absence of significant US dollar demand from corporate FX users. The supply side remained buoyant during the…

CBN to Open Treasury Bills Worth N480bln for Subscription The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will open N480 billion worth of Nigerian Treasury bills for investors’ subscription at the primary market auction scheduled for Wednesday. The auction will be conducted by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on behalf of the monetary authority, and analysts projected a strong subscription level. Details obtained revealed the CBN plan to raise N450 billion across standard tenors—91-day, 182-day, and 364-day treasury bill instruments—to replace the expired one. The market anticipates a total of N324.41 billion in Treasury bill maturities will boost liquidity level in the…

How Not to Invest in Companies Stocks Wrongfully If you doubt it, don’t buy it, and before you buy any company’s shares, know those who are behind it. If you love them, you are probably making a good decision to cut from the pie; if you don’t become Usain Bolt – RUN! Many people are planning to get their share of wealth; some listed stocks in the Nigerian Exchange have delivered in 2025. Anyone that has not gained more than 36% in 2025 invested wrongly. Some companies have doubled down on NGX index performance. Still, you are just on time,…

Naira Forward FX Rates Gain Across Contracts on Renew Confidence The naira appreciated across contracts in the forward FX market as sustained increase in external reserves gross balance boosted corporate FX users’ confidence. A growing number of FX users with foreign currencies liability that took an offsetting positions at forward market saw the naira appreciated across contract last week. The naira rates appreciated across the 1-month, 3-month, 6-month and 1-year contracts, according to Cordros Capital Limited. Forward FX contract for one month appreciated by 0.3% to N1,572.95 per dollar, analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said in a note. The investment…

UPDATE: GTCO Boosts Banking Subsidiary Paid-Up Capital to N504bn Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) has increased its investment in in its banking subsidary, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited or. GTBank to N504 billion, according to an official disclosure released in the Nigerian Exchange. The increase followed its subscription to GTBank’s rights issue of 6,994,050,290 ordinary shares at 50 kobo each, valued at N365.85 billion. With this injection, GTBank’s paid-up share capital rose from N138.19 billion to N504.04 billion. The statement reads, “Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc has announced that it has increased its investment in its wholly owned Banking subsidiary,…

GCR Upgrades Axxela Ratings, Outlook Positive GCR Ratings (GCR) has upgraded Axxela Limited’s national scale long-term and short-term issuer ratings to A(NG) and A1(NG), respectively, from A-(NG) and A2(NG) previously. The rating agency also upgraded the national scale long-term issue rating of Axxela Funding 1 Plc’s NGN16.4 billion series 1 senior unsecured bond to A(NG), from A-(NG) previously; and the NGN11.5Bn series 1 senior secured bond to A(NG)(EL), from A-(NG)(EL) previously. The outlook on the ratings remains positive, according to GCR, adding that the senior secured bonds rating is based on an estimate of the expected loss in the event…