Author: Marketforces Africa

Gold Blasts to Record High, deVere Warns of Surging Tariff Chaos Gold’s price is erupting to historic highs today, and global financial advisory giant deVere Group is warning that Donald Trump’s latest tariff twist has just turned one of the world’s most stable financial markets into a “policy-driven minefield.” US gold futures have surged to an unprecedented $3,534 per troy ounce, after the Trump administration blindsided the global bullion market by imposing duties on one-kilo and 100-ounce bars — a category long assumed to be exempt from trade levies. The sudden Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ruling has detonated decades…

Wema Bank, MTN, BUA Drive Intraday Loss on NGX Wema Bank, MTN Nigeria, and BUA Cement are top stocks that drove the Nigerian Exchange performance downward during early trading session on Friday. The local bourse is expected to close negatively due to heavy intraday loss, marking a reversal to 26 days of rallies recorded in the local bourse. The Nigerian Exchange all-share index and other key performance indicators headed south for the first time in 26 days as investors began to take profits. Key targets include financial services, telecom, and some industrial stocks. At midday, the NGX All Share Index…

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Others Rally after Trump Executive Order Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies rallied as U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders boosted optimism. The world’s largest digital asset coin inched higher by 1.43% to $116,713 over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.com. On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order opening up Americans’ 401(k) plans to private-equity funds, cryptocurrencies, and other alternative investments. The news marks a sharp reversal from the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) aggressive stance just three years ago, when the agency issued an unprecedented warning urging retirement plan providers to “exercise extreme caution” before offering…

NCS Fixes Product Certificate Transmission Glitch on B’Odogwu The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says it has resolved the delay in the transmission of product certificates for Form M and Standards Organisation of Nigeria Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) on its B’Odogwu digital platform. These are required for processing the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) on the platform. The Comptroller-General of NCS, Bashir Adeniyi, confirmed this in a statement by the service’s spokesman, Abdullahi Maiwada, on Thursday in Abuja. Adeniyi explained that the disruption was due to technical integration challenges that emerged during the process of onboarding the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON)…

Interbank Rates Reset as Financial System Liquidity Rebounds Interbank rates reset as liquidity levels in the financial system rebound after open market operation settlement plunged the funding profile into a deficit. Deposit money banks’ borrowing activities heated up after OMO bills settlement totalling N2.12 trillion. The market saw an additional auction for Treasury bills at the midweek auction. The system liquidity rebounded to an opening of a ₦229.4 billion surplus amidst a ₦173.25 billion auctioned treasury bill settlement. There were no significant inflows, but banks’ activities bolstered the financial system’s liquidity. Data from the FMDQ platform revealed that the short-term…

Naira Rises as Foreign Reserves Hit $39.994bn after 21 Inflows The naira appreciated against the US dollar at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (NFEM) in the absence of significant funding pressures in the official trading platform. FX data update from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed spot rate appreciated to N1533.73 per dollar at the official window, a moderate on the day gain of about N1 from N1534.43. At the official window, exchange rate hit intraday high of N1535.99 before it closed at N1535, versus intraday low of N1531.99 per dollar. The Nigerian local currency has been trading range bound,…

Equity Investors Gain N479bn as Reforms Fuel Insurance Stock Rally Equity investors gained about N479 billion as insurance sector reforms drive optimism in the local bourse on Thursday. The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) trading session closed on a bullish note, extending its upward trajectory, as key market performance indicators appreciated by 0.52%. The positive close marks a 26-day rally in the market, with NGX’s year-to-date return settling at 42.4%. The positive sentiment was underpinned by sustained buying interest in mid- and large-cap stocks, with the insurance sector emerging as the top performer again, posting an impressive 8.76% gain. The insurance sector-wide…

Trump Opens $9tn US Retirement Market to Crypto Donald Trump has just signed a landmark executive order that will reshape how millions of Americans build wealth by opening the doors of the $9 trillion US retirement market to cryptocurrencies, private equity, and other alternative assets. This move, which will allow crypto exposure within 401(k) plans for the first time, is one of the boldest steps yet to embed digital assets at the heart of the global financial system. “This is a defining moment not just for crypto, but for the entire future of finance,” says Nigel Green, chief executive of…

Stock Market Accounts for 25% of Nigeria’s GDP At N92.25 trillion, the equity market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) has crossed 25% of the country’s gross domestic product size, MarketForces Africa Research highlighted in an investor note. Nigeria has lost its identity as the largest economy in Africa due to weak local currency, high inflation, and reduced private sector activities. After the rebased exercise, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product for 2024 inched higher, settling at N372.82 trillion, which is equivalent to approximately $243.7 billion.  The country’s economic size had dropped sizably until the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shifted the…

Nigeria’s Macro Outlook Boosts Capital Inflow to 5-Year High Nigeria’s positive macroeconomic outlook boosted capital inflows into the country to the highest level seen since fiscal year 2002, analysts said in their separate notes. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a report that total value of capital imported into the country increased by 11% quarter-on-quarter to $5.6 billion in Q1 2025, the highest quarterly capital inflow recorded since Q1 2020. On a year-on-year basis, capital imports jumped by 67%, reflecting renewed investor interest in Nigerian assets amidst elevated yield in the fixed income market. “Although the quarterly growth…