Author: Julius Alagbe

Naira Softens Against U.S. Dollar Despite FX Intervention The naira closed at N1326 per US dollar at the official window following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) FX intervention and a surge in external reserves. The local currency posted mixed performance against the U.S. dollar across both the official and parallel foreign exchange markets. In the official market, the naira depreciated by 0.40% week-on-week (WoW) to close at N1,326.52 at the Nigerian foreign exchange market (NFEM). The local unit weakened despite $151 million FX intervention sales at the NFEM window, reflecting significant demand pressures that triggered dollar sales to banks.…

Anthropic Chooses Nasdaq for Initial Public Offering Anthropic has chosen Nasdaq as the listing venue for its potential initial public offering (IPO), with plans to list in October. Nasdaq previously successfully listed SpaceX, which is valued at $1.75 trillion, while Anthropic’s valuation could reach $2 trillion. Anthropic announced June 1 that it confidentially submitted a draft S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The filing gives Anthropic an option to proceed after the regulator completes its review. Anthropic’s IPO filing has not yet been made public, but the company will need to release its financials at least 15 days before…

First ‌‍⁠‌‍⁠⁠‌‍⁠‍‌‌‌‍‌Bank Expo to Strengthen Nigeria’s Agricultural Exports First Bank of Nigeria Ltd. says its fifth Agric and Export Expo will focus on strategies to strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural export value chain and expand the country’s non-oil export earnings. The bank said in a statement on Sunday that the two-day expo would bring together policymakers, regulators, agribusiness leaders, exporters, investors and development partners. It said the event, with the theme, “From Farm to Global Markets: Building Nigeria’s Export Value Chain”, would hold at the Eko Convention Centre, Lagos. According to FirstBank, discussions at the expo will centre on emerging market opportunities,…

Nigeria’s foreign reserves increased to $54.410 billion following the latest round of FX inflows into the local economy, with more than 99% of the credit balance staying liquid.

BRICS countries have committed to promoting the use of local currencies for trade settlements

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Rwanda’s Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘B+’ with a stable outlook

XRP Climbs as Ex-Ripple CTO Says Token Could Top Bitcoin Ripple XRP price inched up by more than 1% in 24 hours, aligning with broader recovery in the crypto market on Saturday, driven by exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows. XRP was trading near $1.3672 on Saturday after fluctuating within the mid-$1.30 range during recent sessions. The token’s trading volume is up 28% in 24 hours to $3.2 billion as investors re-entered positions after a mild sell-off. Broader market sentiment is soft. The global cryptocurrency market cap is modestly recovering, with total market capitalisation up 1.07% to $2.64 trillion over 24 hours. …

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) says the recently concluded recapitalisation exercise raised the Nigerian insurance industry’s total capital to N1.079 trillion.

Ripple Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brad Garlinghouse said on a podcast shared on X

NVIDIA Tokenised bStocks Drops on Broader Market Selloffs NVIDIA Tokenised bStocks (NVDAB) fell 1.05% over 24 hours to $219.55 on Friday, closely tracking a broader crypto market dip, with Bitcoin down 0.99%. With about $14 million in transaction value over the 24 hours, NVDAB recorded a 17% increase in trading volume on Friday, led by sell-side actors. NVDAB’s 1.05% drop closely mirrors Bitcoin’s 0.99% decline and the total crypto market cap’s 1.02% fall over the same period. The token is down 5.33% for the week, closely mirroring broader tech sentiment. This high correlation suggests the tokenised stock is moving primarily…