Join IMOH EDET on the MID DAY DIALOGUE on Nigeria Info FM, Abuja Saturday Feb 14

Join the conversation on Mid Day Dialogue on the country's number 1 Talk, News and Sport station, 95.1 Nigeria Info FM, Abuja, at 10am.

This weekend, we shall be reviewing the following:

#FINANCES Performances of the Nigerian Naira during the week
#CAPITALMARKET The slide in the All Share Index and stocks performance in the market.

you can listen via....http://nigeriainfo.fm/abuja951/niginfo_abuja_audio.html
And watch on ....http://nigeriainfo.fm/abuja951/niginfo_abuja_video.html
Twitter: @imohRICH
Tel: 094600951

Nigerian banks banned from reselling central bank dollars to each other

 

Nigeria's central bank banned banks on Friday from reselling dollars bought at its currency auctions to other banks, dealers said, a move aimed at curbing speculation.

Central bank officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The central bank had asked commercial lenders to submit their customers' dollar demand in a special forex sale on Friday, which delayed trading for over an hour.

Two sales were conducted at 198.50 naira to the dollar totalling $40.8 million.

CBN intervenes in forex market - dealer

 

Nigeria's central bank intervened in a special forex sale on Friday to boost liquidity on the interbank market and strengthen the naira, a dealer at a major bank told Reuters.



Two large sales were done at 198.50 naira to the dollar, totalling $40.8 million, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Trading on Nigeria's foreign exchange market was delayed until after 10 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Friday to allow dealers to submit demand for dollars to the central bank.

Nigeria equities fall 8.8 pct to more than 2-year low

 

Nigeria's main index fell 8.8 percent to a more than two-year low on Friday, on concerns over political stability and the central bank's ability to manage a currency hammered by weak oil prices.

 

It was a seventh consecutive losing streak for the index. The relatively liquid banking index dropped 2.7 percent.

The index has shed 19 percent since the start of this year, after falling 16 percent in 2014.

UPDATE 1-Nigerian overnight rate soars to 95 pct, near record

 

Nigerian overnight lending rates climbed to near record highs on Friday after the central bank sold Treasury bills to mop up liquidity and enforced a cash reserve requirement for lenders, dealers said.

Amid a squeeze on the naira, the rate commercial banks charge other banks for borrowing on the interbank market jumped to 95 percent, from 20 percent on Thursday.

Overnight rates climbed to a record high of 100 percent on Tuesday after the central bank soaked up liquidity to support the naira currency, which fell through the psychological 200 mark for the first time this week.

The central bank sold 115 billion naira ($575 million) of debt in a bid to tighten liquidity in support of the local currency by draining cash and pushing up lending rates.
Traders said the state-owned energy company, NNPC, also recalled a portion of its deposits with banks, putting further pressure on liquidity.

Nigerian Breweries declares N37.2bn dividend for 2014

Nigerian Breweries Plc says its Board of Directors has recommended a total dividend of N37.205bn for the 2014 financial year.

The amount represents a pay out of N4.75 per ordinary share of fifty kobo each, a statement by the company’s Secretary and Legal Adviser, Mr. Uaboi Agbebaku, on Thursday said.

The recommended of the board would be presented to the company’s shareholders for approval at the 2015 Annual General Meeting.

The statement explained that the board had earlier paid an interim dividend of N9.453bn, representing N1.25 per ordinary share of fifty kobo each in October 2014.

Nigeria’s foreign reserves fall $1bn in 12 days

Nigeria’s foreign reserves fell to $33.4 billion as at February 10, a drop of $1 billion over the previous 12 days as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold hard currency to try to defend a plunging naira.

The Nigerian currency has been witnessing a plunge due to the continuous fall in global oil prices since June last year.

Oil accounts for more than 70 percent of Nigeria’s revenue.

Nigerian overnight rate soars to 100 pct as naira hits 200 to dollar

Nigeria's overnight lending rates soared to a record high of 100 percent on Tuesday, signalling a sharp tightening of naira supply as the currency fell to 200 to the dollar for the first time.

A weekend decision to postpone presidential elections by six weeks, combined with plummeting oil prices, has damaged investor sentiment towards Nigeria, driving the naira to a succession of lows despite central bank efforts to prop it up.

The central bank said on Tuesday the foreign exchange market was understandably nervous after the decision to postpone elections but said it was nothing to worry about. The bank is committed to sustaining a "stable and orderly" market, it added.

The naira fell sharply to a fresh low of 200 to the dollar, shrugging off central bank intervention and ending at a record closing low of 199.90. It closed at 196.50 on Monday. 

he naira has been officially pegged at 160-176 to the dollar after an 8 percent devaluation in November but it has rarely traded within that range, and most analysts reckon authorities will have to devalue the currency again.

Non-deliverable forwards -- contracts used to bet on future exchange rate moves -- price the naira as much as 30 percent weaker in a year's time.

The central bank was widely expected to move after the presidential election, but the decision to postpone it from Feb. 14 till March 28 due to security concerns has rattled investors.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – SEC TO LAUNCH SCORECARD FOR PUBLIC QUAOTED COMPANIES

With a goal to boost investor confidence and deepen corporate governance practices in Nigeria, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to release a landmark Corporate Governance Scorecard for listed companies in the country.

This will be the first of its kind within Nigeria’s financial system according to Mr. Mounir Gwarzo, the Acting Director General of SEC who hosted members of the Institute of Directors (IoD)Centre for Corporate Governance at his office in Abuja. The Corporate Governance Scorecard will assess the level of compliance with the SEC Code of Corporate governance by Nigeria’s public companies on an annual basis.

Mr. Gwarzo stressed the importance of corporate governance to the SEC and reeled out various initiatives by the apex regulator to strengthen corporate governance practices in Nigeria. “Corporate governance is very close to our heart as an institution. Internally we hold ourselves to the highest governance standards with our Board members submitting themselves to annual evaluations on corporate governance. In addition, we require all market operators to have competent compliance officers as a precondition for operating in the capital market”.

Last year, the SEC intervened to resolve a corporate governance crisis at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), taking a leading role in strengthening the institution and Mr. Gwarzo believes that the Commission will continue to play similar roles. “The SEC has the widest coverage when it comes to corporate governance covering all publicly listed companies and capital market operators. We should therefore be the reference point on corporate governance”, Mr. Gwarzo said.

Naira Hits N200/1$

 

The naira currency opened at record low on Monday on thin trading as the interbank markets gested the news that Nigeria would delay its presidential election for six weeks due to an Islamist insurgency in the north, dealers said.

 

The naira opened at a record low of 194.75 to the dollar, and quickly fell 1.1 percent to 196.05, compared with its previous close of 193.90 on Friday.

Nigeria's electoral commission said late of Saturday it would postpone the Feb. 14 presidential election until March 28 due to security concerns.

CBN says it will stabilise naira, after it crosses 200/1$

 

Nigeria's central bank is committed to sustaining a "stable and orderly" market, after a delay to a presidential election pushed the naira beyond 200 to the U.S. dollar for the first time, an adviser to the governor told Reuters on Tuesday.


The forex market was understandably nervous after the six-week delay to elections originally scheduled for Feb. 14, but it was nothing to worry about, Ugochukwu Okoroafor said.


Okoroafor said the naira was under speculative attack, as there had been no fundamental change to Nigeria's economy to warrant the pressure on the currency.

FG to further Diversify the Economy

The Nigerian economy is said to be growing at a rate of 7 per cent, with 40 percent input from the non-oil sector.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Finance and the coordinating minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-iweala on a television interview with Richard Quest of CNN.

Okonjo-Iweala said the drop in oil prices will bring out the best of the country's non oil sector as government is making great effort in further diversifying the economy.