Author: Marketforces Africa

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervened in the foreign exchange market with the sales of $66 million to authorised dealer banks.

Ikeja Hotel Soars Amidst Heighten Optimism Ikeja Hotel Plc soared by more than 24% in the equities market as demand for hospitality stocks increased. The stock opened at N11.25 last week but close at N14 per share on Friday, reflecting improved sentiment in the market. In 2024, Ikeja Hotel Plc revenue grew by about 69% year on year to N18.753 billion from N11.113 billion in the financial year 2023. Though costs of sales increased significantly, improved revenue rubbed off on the group’s bottom line performance in the period. Costs of sales actually rose by 60.1% year on year to N11.214…

Ecobank Hits Record High as Investors Sentiments Improve Ecobank Group Plc.’s stock market valuation soared to a new 52-week high on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), thanks to shareholders improved sentiment. The financial services group climbed to N34.7 due to price upticks spanning three successive days in the local bourse, from N31.3 at the beginning of the trading sessions last week. The renewed interest in Ecobank shares raised its market value to about N634 billion on the Nigerian Exchange ahead of earnings release. Stockbrokers said improved sentiment was key to its higher price in the just concluded week, as market awaits…

Honeywell Flour Tops Market Performers, Gains 47% Honeywell Flour Mills spiked as influx of returnee investors taking positions on the back of an improved market sentiments. The company stock saw successive price upticks for five trading sessions last week on the back of surging bargain hunting. Honeywell saw unusual shares volume transacted following release of its third quarter earnings results in January. Data from the Nigerian Exchange showed that the food company stock gained 47.1% week on week to settle at N14 on Friday from N9.52 at the beginning of the week. The all-week positive price movement lifted its market…

Nigerian Exchange Expands to N67.42T as Investors Gain N1.83T The Nigerian Exchange, NGX, expanded by N1.83 trillion due to strong rally that spanned four out of five trading sessions in the just concluded week. The bullish momentum persisted for the second trading week in February, as the market index or All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 2.00% week-on-week to close at 108,053.95 points. This rally saw the index surpass the 108,000 and 109,000 psychological levels, reaching new historic highs, driven by gains in Industrial, Insurance, and Energy and Commodity stocks. Similarly, the total market capitalisation of listed equities rose by 2.78%…

GTBank Removes Point of Sale Processing Fees to Support Businesses Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd has announced the removal of processing fees on all GTBank POS terminals, reinforcing its commitment to supporting businesses with cost-effective payment solutions. This initiative, which took effect Tuesday, 11 February 2025, communicates that merchants using GTBank POS terminals will no longer incur Merchant Service Charges (MSC) when receiving payments from customers. With this initiative, all qualifying SME merchants can now receive payments at zero cost, allowing them to reduce operational expenses while promoting the merchant’s enterprise and enhancing the customer experience. Speaking on the initiative, Miriam…

Global Crypto Market Cap Rises to $3.24T as Bull, Bear Tango Top cryptocurrency sell offs has continued to rub off on the market value of all cryptocurrency. However, there have been mild buying interest in some coins. Generally, the crypto market exhibited strong volatility as bull and bear tango amidst global economic uncertainties. Trading data has now revealed that Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has started to recover, up by 9 basis points to settle at $97,500 level. Ethereum (ETH-USD) the second largest digital asset has remained downbeat, losing 1.5% in the last 24 hours across crypto exchange. The market uptrend is supported…

US Dollar Falls as Markets Price in Reciprocal Tariffs Delay The U.S. dollar fell against trading pairs as markets price in delayed in reciprocal tariffs implementation. This caused the greenback to retreat amidst busy schedule of data releases.  Against expectation, reciprocal tariffs were not immediately imposed, while a U.S. producer price report helped sooth some inflation concerns. U.S. President Donald Trump directed his economic team on Thursday to formulate plans for reciprocal tariffs on every country that imposes taxes on U.S. imports. But he stopped short of quickly unveiling another round of tariffs, instead kicking off what could be weeks…

Oil Prices Slip for Weeks on Trumps Tariffs Threats Oil prices have declined for four consecutive weeks, dropping below $75 to reach their lowest level in three months, Anadolu Agency said in a report. This followed the United States President Donald Trump’s new policies aimed at increasing fossil fuel production. Prior to the uncertainty surrounding the new administration’s decisions, oil prices had risen to $81.75, testing their highest level since August 12, 2024, before closing the week starting January 13 at $79.87. However, after Trump’s inauguration, the price of Brent crude fell 3% during the week of January 20, experiencing…

Haldane McCall to Pay Shareholders Final Dividend Real estate company, Haldane McCall Plc, board of directors has announced plan to pay shareholders final dividend for 2024. In a regulatory filing, the company told the Nigerian Exchange, NGX, its board has proposed to pay a final dividend of 0.07 kobo for every share of 50 kobo per ordinary share. Haldane further said the dividend payment to shareholders is subject to appropriate withholding tax and approval.  According to the official statement, the proposed amount will be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of…