Author: Julius Alagbe

Bonds Yield Falls by 24bps, Market Reacts to Spot Rates Cut The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds yield fell by 24 basis points (bps) in the secondary market last week as investors reacted to the Debt Office primary market auction result. The outcome of the main auction triggered robust demand in the secondary market, leading to notable yield contractions, particularly across the mid- to long-tenor segment of the curve. The bullish momentum carried into midweek as yields adjusted lower, but sentiment turned mixed later in the week, AIICO Capital Limited said in a note. At the same time, analysts…

CBN Allots N98bn OMO Bills to Investors Out of N3.32trn Bids The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) raised N98 billion from open market operation on Friday, where the authority offered N600 billion worth of bills to banks and foreign portfolio investors. Demand was significantly higher than the offer, reflecting the excess liquidity level in the banking system at the time and expanding offshore investors’ appetite for the naira assets. The CBN floated Nigerian OMO bills across three maturities: 88 days, 102 days to maturity and also floated 123-day-to-maturity papers for investors’ subscriptions. The auction was well received after weeks of…

Nigeria’s Gross External Reserves Increase to $42.407 bln Up by about $5.2 billion since July, Nigeria’s gross external reserves increased to $42.407 billion on October 2, from $42.353 billion on Sept. 30, the Central Bank confirmed in its latest update. The nation’s foreign reserves maintained an uptrend despite a series of FX intervention sales conducted by the Apex Bank to enhance the naira’s spot rate at the official currency market. Analysts said multiple developments, especially higher FX receipts from hydrocarbon revenue, exporters’ inflows and other remittances from international market is helping accretion. MarketForces Africa gathered that Dangote Refinery export revenue…

Keir Starmer UK Prime Minister to Visit India Next Week United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Keir Starmer will make his first official visit to India from October 8 to 9 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on Saturday. On October 9 in Mumbai, the two Prime Ministers will take stock of progress in diverse aspects of the India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in line with ‘Vision 2035’, a focussed and time bound 10-year Roadmap of programmes and initiatives in key pillars of trade and investment, technology and innovation, defence and security, climate and…

Mayor of Atlanta Applauds Fidelity FNITCC Conference Tier-one lender, Fidelity Bank Plc, has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Nigerian businesses in scaling up and competing effectively on the global stage. This commitment was underscored at the 2025 Fidelity Nigeria International Trade & Creative Connect (FNITCC), held over the weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. Reflecting on FNITCC’s evolution over the past four years, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Dr. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, described the initiative as a strategic expression of the bank’s vision to empower homegrown businesses for global competitiveness. “FNITCC is a vision that has come a long…

CBN Reforms to Stabilise Economy, Restore Investor Confidence- Cardoso Olayemi Cardoso, says the bank’s reforms are aimed at stabilising the economy, restoring confidence and bringing inflation down to single digits in the medium term. Cardoso said this while taking questions during a fireside chat at his inaugural lecture series at the Lagos Business School (LBS). The lecture had the theme “Next Generation Leadership in Monetary Policy and Nation Building” and marked the launch of the CBN Governor’s Lecture Series. The lecture had in attendance students from various tertiary institutions, members of academia, bankers and industry experts. Cardoso explained the challenges…

Euro Rally as Markets Weigh ECB, Federal Reserve Policy Gap FX market – The euro traded just above $1.17, staying close to last month’s four-year high of $1.192, as markets weighed the widening policy gap between the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Federal Reserve (Fed). The ECB, and US Federal Reserve interest rate policy choice impacted Euro, and US dollar trading direction amidst fluctuating economic data. The euro area economy continued its expansionary trend at the end of the third quarter, with the pace of growth even ticking slightly higher to its strongest since May 2024. The upturn was…

Banks Placements with CBN Spike as Liquidity Surplus Hits N7trn Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) fund placements at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) standing deposit facility, which has surged further given a huge surplus liquidity level in the financial system. Standing in excess of N7 trillion, the money market has been flooded with free flows of funds in the absence of significant liquidity mop-up action from the monetary authority side. Details released by AIICO Capital Limited late on Thursday revealed that the amount in the financial system reached N7.11 trillion as the CBN failed to float an OMO auction again.…

Naira Appreciates Against Dollar to N1455, FX Reserves Rise The Nigerian naira appreciated to N1455 at the official foreign exchange market on Thursday, reflecting strong FX liquidity position in the currency market. The local currency is gaining strength amidst persistent FX intervention, growing foreign reserves and expanding inflows from exporters as reforms turn Nigeria into a net exporting economy. FX spot rate settled at N1455.2373 per dollar, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicates in its daily FX update. This showed the exchange rate appreciated by 1.35% on the day from N1,475.3473 the previous day. There was sufficient US dollar…

Elon Musk Becomes First to Hit $500bn Net Worth as Tesla Soars Elon Musk on Thursday became the first person estimated to reach a net worth of 500 billion dollars. This is according to U.S. magazine Forbes, largely held in shares of electric carmaker Tesla and aerospace firm SpaceX. Forbes calculated Musk’s wealth at roughly 150 billion dollars more than Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. The magazine later revised the estimate slightly down to 499.1 billion dollars. Musk’s wealth is harder to estimate than that of other billionaires because many of his companies are not publicly traded. Musk surpassed the 400…