Author: Julius Alagbe

Nigeria 10-Year Bonds Rally after Exclusion for Auction Nigeria’s 10-year bonds tenor attracted investors’ attention in the secondary market following an update from the debt office. Investors have continued to show stronger appetite for long duration naira assets to lock in profit amidst potential policy shift. In its FGN bond offer circular, Debt Management Office (DMO) announced the removal of the January 2035s from the upcoming auction. Positive real return on investment on naira assets has boosted local investors’ sentiment. Inflation rate dropped significantly while the authority keeps interest rate benchmark elevated at 27.50%. Signifying deliberate efforts to attract foreign…

Tax Reform Bills to Boost Nigeria’s Fiscal Stability – FRC Mr Victor Muruako, Executive Chairman of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), says tax reform bills will strengthen fiscal stability, improving efficiency, transparency, and accountability in tax collection and remittance. Muruako stated this at a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Finance on four tax reform bills at the National Assembly in Abuja on Monday. He stated that the bills’ main objectives align with the principles of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007. “In our view, the bills will enhance fiscal stability, modernise tax collection, and improve efficiency, transparency, and…

MTN Nigeria to Release Audited Report after Board Meeting MTN Nigeria Plc.’s board of directors planned to meet on Thursday for the approval of the telecom company’s 2024 audited results. In the stock market, the telecom company has recovered from selling rallies following a broken earnings performance that lasted for three quarters. Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed that MTN Nigeria has gained more than 55% since last year, when its share price bottomed at N170. The telecom company’s share price closed at N264.20 on Friday, while investors valued its 20.995 billion shares outstanding for N5.547 trillion on the Exchange.…

Oando Falls, Trades at 40% Discount as Investors Exit Positions Oando Plc fell sharply, losing about 16% of its market value as investors sold down interest in the indigenous oil company this week. Driven by negative perception, profit-taking activities that started on Monday lasted throughout the week, causing the value of the company on the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, to fall by about N137 billion. According to data from the local bourse, Oando Plc’s share price fell to N59 after more than 9 million units valued at N566.718 million were traded in the market on Friday. A sharp price depreciation witnessed…

Naira Exchange Rates Inch Near Unification with CBN Touch The naira value of a unit of US dollar rose to N1501 in the official foreign exchange market, thanks to continuous support from the Central Bank. The gain posted in FX market driven by increased foreign exchange supply from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), international oil companies (IOCs), and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) market interventions, AIICO Capital Limited said in a note. This boost in dollar liquidity helped ease FX demand pressure. Trading activity was robust, with transactions occurring within the $/₦1,490.00 to $/₦1,520.00 range. The CBN’s foreign exchange sales…

Moody’s Affirms Egypt’s High Credit Risk Ratings, Outlook Positive Moody’s Ratings has affirmed the Government of Egypt’s Caa1 long-term foreign and local currency issuer ratings and maintained the positive outlook. The global ratings agency concurrently affirmed Egypt’s foreign-currency senior unsecured ratings at Caa1, and its foreign-currency senior unsecured MTN program rating at (P)Caa1. The positive outlook, in place since March 2024, continues to reflect the prospects for an improvement in Egypt’s debt service burden and external profile, Moody’s said. “As expected at the time of our last rating action, progress in external and fiscal rebalancing has been made”. Analysts explained…

Nigerian Bonds Yields Slide as Investors ‘Get In’ Investors ramped up more bonds in the secondary market as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) monetary policy committee kept the benchmark interest rate at 27.50% at the just-concluded meeting. Fixed income assets have become attractive, now offering inflation-protected returns. The wave of optimism swept through as investors took time to digest the outcome of the CBN monetary policy committee meeting. Amidst the cautious atmosphere, buying interest was strongest at the mid-segment of the yield curve. With the sharp decline of the inflation rate, the real return on fixed-interest securities was upturned…

Jumia Posts $97 million Loss as Revenue Declines Jumia Technologies AG pretax loss moderated by 1% to $97.559 million in financial year 2024 as the company’s revenue declined, according to an audited financial statement released today. The company loss was relatively flattish year on year amidst strong costs savings culture and move to ramped up revenue generating activities. For 2025, the company expect loss to moderate further. “We forecast Loss before Income Tax to be in the range of negative $65 million to negative $70 million, a year-over-year decrease of 33% and 28%, respectively”, Jumia said in its outlook for…

Iran Executed 975 People in 2024 – Report Human rights activists on Thursday said the Iranian Government executed at least 975 people in 2024, in a “horrifying escalation in the use of the death penalty.” The figure is a 17 per cent increase from the 834 recorded in 2023, according to an annual report by the Oslo-based human rights organization Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO) and the France-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM). It is also the highest number of executions recorded since IHRNGO’s first annual report in 2008 and significantly higher than the average in that span. Javaid Rehman,…

CBN Hacks Rates on Treasury Bills as Inflation Falls Discount rates on Nigerian Treasury bills fell sharply across standard maturities as investors bet large on naira assets after inflation plunged. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted a primary market auction midweek where the authority offered N700 billion worth of Treasury bills across 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day tenors. Despite a huge liquidity shortfall of more than N1 trillion in the money market, investors subscriptions came heavy, according to some traders. Subscriptions came more than threefold as the interest rate outpaced the inflation rate for the first time in a long…