Author: Julius Alagbe

Julius Alagbe is a senior financial journalist and Editor at MarketForces Africa with nearly two decades of experience in finance, accounting, and economics reporting.He is one of Nigeria's most prolific financial market reporters, covering capital markets, monetary policy, corporate earnings, banking, telecoms, and macroeconomic developments across Africa.Julius has built a strong footprint reporting on Nigeria's leading corporates and financial services sector, including coverage of the Nigerian Exchange Group, Central Bank of Nigeria monetary operations, MTN Nigeria, GTCO, and major investment banking transactions.He regularly monitors the CBN’s open market operations, interbank FX markets, and equity market movements, providing readers with real-time intelligence on Nigeria’s financial landscape.His reporting draws on direct access to institutional research from firms including Moody’s Ratings, CardinalStone Securities, Fitch, and other leading African investment houses.Julius brings analytical depth and editorial rigour to every story, making complex financial data accessible to professionals, investors, and policymakers across Africa.Julius Alagbe is based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Debt Office to Open New 7-Year Bonds for Subscription The Debt Management Office (DMO) is scheduled to conduct its monthly Federal Government (FGN) Bonds auction on June 23, 2025, with one reopening instrument and a new 7-year issue. Analysts have mixed expectations following the decision of the authority to slash spot rates at the primary market auction conducted last month as the market reacted to disinflation and the monetary policy rate hold decision. Again, inflation eased, and the financial market is flooded with robust liquidity levels, suggesting demand would be strong. This could inform the DMO to cut spot rates…

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Naira Rallies, Spot Rate Settles at N1547 on FX Injections The naira appreciated against the US dollar, closing at N1547 per greenback at the Nigeria foreign exchange market (NFEM) as Central Bank (CBN) and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) drive FX inflows. The domestic currency appreciated at the official market by 26bps to close at N1,547.3636/$, while at the parallel market window, the Naira depreciated by 32bps to settle at N1,585.00/$ FX inflows strengthen with the CBN intervention and FPIs participation. Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited explained that exchange rate was supported by increased supply from FPIs who were looking to…

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Vertiv Brings AI Solutions Innovation Roadshow to Lagos Vertiv (NYSE: VRT), a global leader in critical digital infrastructure, has announced that its highly anticipated AI Solutions Innovation Roadshow will make its next stop, this time in Lagos, Nigeria on Thursday 26 June, 2025. The Roadshow, scheduled to take place in Victoria Island, Lagos, is part of a global series of events designed to educate and equip customers and consultants with essential expertise for deploying high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Vertiv experts will introduce the key infrastructure imperatives to enable AI, sharing insights on latest challenges and opportunities…

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Benchmark Yield on Nigerian Bonds Falls by 19bps to 18.64% In the secondary market, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds posted modest gains as stable yields across maturities drove the average sovereign yield down by 19 basis points to 18.64%. Investors increased their bets on the naira assets ahead of tight auction scheduled for Monday. The Debt Management Office (DMO) will be conduction bonds auction for June next week, where it will offer N100 billion paper across reopening and new issue. Analysts said it appears the Nigerian government is not looking to fund the 2025 budget deficit with local…

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Money Market Rates Mixed on Robust Liquidity in Financial System Money market rates closed on a mixed note on the back of a robust liquidity level in the financial system. The repo rate (OPR) held firm at 26.50% while the overnight lending rate edged up 2 basis points (bps) to 26.96%. The banking system liqudity reduced by N57.66 billion following Treasury bills auction sales and repayment. This brough the opening net long position to N1.09 trillion according to Erad Partners Limited. The short-term benchmark market rates reacted to funding request from deposit money banks with lower activities at the Central…

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Pension Remittance Defaulters to be Blacklisted in Nov– PenCom The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has warned that organisations failing to comply with pension remittance obligations will be blacklisted starting Nov. 10. The Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, issued the warning during the commission’s second-quarter media briefing in Lagos on Wednesday. Oloworaran noted that this was to reinforce PenCom’s adoption of its zero-tolerance approach to non-compliance with the Pension Reform Act of 2014. She said, “Moving on, it is now zero tolerance for non-compliance with the pension reform act of 2014. Effective immediately, PenCom has launched an uncompromising compliance drive…

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DMO Allots N47.355bn Green Bonds to Investors at 18.95% The Debt Management Office (DMO) has allotted green bond worth N47.355 billion to investors at 18.95%, according to the authority’s auction result. On behalf of Nigerian government, the debt office had opened N50 billion in green bonds for subscription and this attracted N91 billion from investors. “Investors again demonstrated confidence in the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Securities by the high level of subscription of N91.42 billion recorded in the recent Sovereign Green Bond offer”, DMO said in a release. The offer, which closed on Wednesday was for N50 billion and…

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NGX Intraday Rally: Investors Place Huge Bets on Banks Stocks Zenith Bank, UBA and others are driving the equities market index upward during intraday trading session on Thursday. The Nigerian Exchange is currently making a new uptrend that could possibility push key performance indictors to fresh highs. Investors are returning to taking position in banking names, reversing the previous trend stoked by Central Bank suspension on dividend due to loans forbearance. The market started to reach positively as banks addressed laon forbeaance directive with pledge to shareholders to maintain dividend payments. Since yesterday, the local bourse has started fresh momentum,…

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Transcorp Power Rebounds on Fresh Hunting Transcorp Power Plc rebounded sharply in the stock market as value hunters spotted upside potential ahead of the second quarter of 2025 earnings season. The company’s market value had dropped in the previous week due to a selloff pushed by investors’ weak sentiment. The company’s share price rose sharply to N320 in the equities market on Wednesday, up by 8.22% from N295.7, as investors traded more than 7 million units of the power stock. The transaction that pushed Transcorp Power Plc share price boosted its market value to N2.40 trillion, according to trading data…

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CBN Cuts Treasury Bills Rates, Rejects N1.07trn Excess Bids The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hacked spot rates on Nigerian Treasury bills across standard maturities, its primary market auction result has revealed. The authority offered N162 billion worth of Nigerian Treasury bills to investors across 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day maturities at the auction. Total subscription was significantly heavy. Investors staked N1.233 trillion, outpacing the offer size by multiple folds, with the highest demand from instruments with long durations. Details from the midweek auction showed that the CBN offered N22.02 billion worth of Nigerian bills with a 91-day tenor. Total subscription,…

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