Author: Marketforces Africa

Equities Investors See N100bn Gain as Zenith Bank, First Holdco Rally Equities investors increased by more than N100 billion as demand for banking stocks redirected market direction on Tuesday. The local bourse defied the prevailing global downturn to close today’s trading on a positive note. Hence, the market index climbed sharply, reversing the previous day’s loss. Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed that key performance indicators advanced by 0.15%, pushing year-to-date return higher on the day. Positive trading activities in the stock market were primarily driven by renewed buying interest in recently undervalued medium and large-cap stocks, particularly within the…

China Puts Trump on Notice: Ready for Full-on Trade War China is sending an unmistakable message to Washington: it’s fully prepared for a deepening trade war, and it is not backing down. This is the worrying warning from Nigel Green, CEO and founder of global financial advisory giant deVere Group. The latest moves out of Beijing show a government bracing for extended economic conflict with the United States under President Trump. The clearest signal came through the yuan, which is quietly sliding lower — a strategic warning shot that says if provoked, China can and will use currency devaluation as…

First Holdco, Zenith Bank Intraday Rally Boost Equities Market Index First Holdco Plc, Zenith Bank, and GTCO’s intraday rally have lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share index by four basis points due to improved investors’ sentiment in banking names. The majority of bargain hunting was driven by renewed interest in financial stocks following a downbeat market performance at the beginning of the week. Still, stockbrokers said the market condition hasn’t improved enough to reduce offshore investors latest selloffs. Also, analysts noticed that some high-ticket transactions have been consummated outside the NGX trading platform to curb significant price decline. At midday,…

African Countries Keep Cool as China, EU Respond to U.S Tariffs China and the U.S. bicker in a show of strength with tariff combats, but the European Union has shown preference for negotiation instead. African countries have proven to be negligible in the global trade equation despite their massive resources. No African country has responded meaningfully, raising questions about the capabilities and ability of the 54 countries to influence global trade. On April 2, U.S. President Donald Trump announced higher tariffs on exports into America in a way that redefined globalisation of trade. The decision to impose higher tariffs at…

Yield Hits 7-Month High as FPIs Exit Nigeria, African Eurobonds With the sustained risk-off sentiments, Nigeria and other African sovereign Eurobonds experienced massive selloffs in the market as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) began to search for safer investment assets. U.S. President Donald Trump redefined global trade by slamming higher tariffs on goods exported into America at different degrees of rates. This triggered massive equities selloffs, and African markets were not excused in the rout. Transaction details obtained revealed that African Eurobonds remained under heavy selling pressure, with Nigeria and Angola’s oil-linked papers hit hardest as foreign investors weighed their position…

Foreign Investors Exiting Nigeria Stokes Pressure on Naira The Nigerian naira came under intense pressure in the foreign exchange market as a result of foreign investors seeking to exit positions in the economy. The market saw a significant spike in US dollar demand yesterday, and this pushed the exchange rate line amidst a global shift in investment perceptions. Reacting to increased demand for hard currency, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) flooded the FX market with $124 million to boost the supply side, but this proved to be insufficient to stem the negative tide on the naira exchange rate. Hence,…

Naira Hits New Low despite $124m FX Injection In the forex market, the naira hits a new low against the dominant foreign currency, the US dollar, despite the Apex Bank intervention sales on Monday. The exchange rate worsened by 2.90% to N1612 the same day when the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pumped additional US dollars to bolster the volume of FX available in the supply side of the currency market. The interbank market remained bid as sustained demand pressure persisted, largely driven by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) looking to exit amid a global risk-off sentiment, AIICO Capital Limited said.…

Venture Capitalists Money in Africa Hits $50 Billion—Report Venture capitalists have pumped about $50 billion into the African investment ecosystem in the last decade, the African Private Capital Association (AVCA) said in a report. The amount remains small when compared with global funding size in the same period. AVCA said against this broader backdrop of mixed global recovery, 2024 was a challenging year for Africa’s venture capital ecosystem, which registered double-digit declines that outstripped all other regions in scale. The report highlighted that 2024 reveals a venture capital landscape that is slowly inching toward stability, although progress is neither uniform…

Bitcoin Hits Fresh Low as Crypto Market Bleeds The trading price of the world’s largest digital asset, Bitcoin, fell sharply on Monday to hit a new low in 2025 amidst global uncertainty that is pushing investment interest towards safe haven investments. The sell pressures on top cryptocurrencies have a negative impact on the market value of all listed digital assets in the market today. Data showed that the global crypto market cap declined by 2.34% in the last 24 hours to settle at $2.5 trillion. The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours spiked to $233.19 billion with…

US Dollar Mixed Against Trading Pairs in FX Markets The US dollar was mixed against its major trading partners early Monday — up versus the pound and Canadian dollar, down versus the euro and yen — with markets focused on March inflation data scheduled to be released later in the week. There was no clear catalyst in data or market events, and the USD rebound seems to be more related to the unwinding of short positions. A quick summary of foreign exchange activity showed that USDEUR rose to 1.0961 from 1.0950 at the Friday US close but was below a…