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.
FG Investigates ‘Sharp Sharp’ Loan Operators Over Privacy Violations The Federal Government (FG) says it is investigating the activities of some ‘sharp sharp’ loan operators over alleged violation of data privacy of customers. The National Commissioner, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Mr Vincent Olatunji, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday. NAN reports that ‘Sharp Sharp’ loan operators, also known in some quarters as loan sharks, are private sector-based and largely unregulated loan vendors who advance immediate loans to soliciting, and sometimes, unsoliciting customers without collateral. Olatunji, who spoke on the sidelines of…
Ripple’s XRP price climbed to $1.37 on Tuesday, the highest over the past 24h, driven primarily by a major utility expansion with Rakuten’s payment integration in Japan.
Trading in Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds softened in the secondary market due to tight investor sentiment ahead of inflation data, amid mixed expectations.
Nairobi Stock Exchange Slides as Investors Take Profit Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) closed lower on Monday amid selling pressure in Olympia Capital, with 8.06% price depreciation; Express Kenya down 6%; and Crown Paints down 3.4%. Trading data showed that the Nairobi Securities market value inched lower by 2.9%, while the Nairobi Business market value lost 2.7% as investors booked profits. On the other hand, Kenya Airways gained 7.2%, Portland’s share price rose by 4.6%, Standard Group’s market value climbed by 3.3%, while Home Africa and Kakuzi advanced by 2.8% and 2.7%, respectively. The overall market edged down by 0.7% as…
Setting a new path to recovery, Ripple (XRP) price jumped 3.05% to $1.36 over the past 24h, closely tracking a broad market rally in which Bitcoin gained 4.88%.
Kenya raised KES 24.35 billion from Treasury bill allotment at its weekly primary market auction last week. The weekly Treasury bills auction was oversubscribed, recording a subscription rate of 102.3%, with total bids of KES 24.55 billion against an offer of KES 24.00 billion.
The South African rand (ZAR) depreciated on Monday, trading at R16.42 against the dollar, R19.25 against the euro, and R22.09 against the pound, according to First National Bank (FNB).
Bitcoin pulled back by 3.4% to $71,158 over the past 24h, underperforming the broader market, which fell 2.78%, amid a sharp escalation in Middle East geopolitical tensions.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a $200 million loan to support Nigeria’s efforts to expand digital infrastructure and create jobs.
Toncoin (TON) gained 14.83% over the last 24 hours, trading at $1.48, dramatically outperforming flat Bitcoin and driven primarily by a bullish network upgrade announcement from Telegram.