The Nigerian Naira on Monday appreciated by 4.4 per cent against the U.S. dollar at the parallel market, gaining N16 from its Friday rate.
Although the official exchange rate by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN remained at N197 – N199 band, the Naira exchanged for N345 to the dollar on Monday from about N361 it traded on Friday.
But the currency exchanged for N385 and N380 to Pounds Sterling and the Euro, respectively, during Monday’s trading, as money market analysts say the market has started recovering from the shock of Wednesday’s increase in the pump price of petrol from N86.50 per litre to N145 per litre.
The decision by the federal government, which took most Nigerians unawares, triggered a “free fall’’ of the Naira at the market.
Meanwhile, activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday was upbeat, with appreciation in price of some highly capitalized stocks boosting market capitalisation by N130 billion.
Prior to the opening of the day’s trading, market capitalisation stood at about N9.098 trillion. But, the N130 billion, or 1.43 per cent increase took the capitalization to a closing balance of N9.228 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index, ASI appreciated by 377.74 points, or 1.43 per cent, to close at 26,818.77 points, against 26,441.03 on Friday.
Nigerian Breweries led the gainers’ chart, earning N5.05 to close at N123 per share, while Total Oil garnered N5 to close at N175, with Guinness PLC increasing its equity by N4.75 to close at N99.75 per share.
Lafarge Africa gained N2.80 to close at N74 , while Dangote Cement grew by N2.10 to close at N167.10 per share.
On the losers’ side, MRS Oil topped with the highest loss, dropping N3.94 to close at N36.53 per share, while UNILEVER followed closely with a loss of N1.65 to close at N34.35, and G Cappa losing 72k to close at N13.74 per share.
VITAFOAM also shed 52k to close at N4.90 and ETI dropped 50k to close at N14.56 per share.
Access Bank was the toast of investors’ in terms of volume of shares traded, accounting for N48.61 million shares valued at N240.87 billion.
UBA was next with an exchange of 40.98 million shares worth N155.95 million, while Transcorp sold 34.76 million shares valued at N44.79 million.
Fidelity Bank traded 29.83 million shares worth N38.59 million and FBN Holdings exchanged 23.73 million shares valued at N87.04 million.
In all, a total of 320.99 million shares valued at N2.11 billion was traded by investors in 4,524 deals, compared with 567.59 million shares valued at N3.58 billion which exchanged hands in 5,523 deals on Friday.
(NAN)
