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FX window attracts $11.2bn as NSE index continues sluggish runs

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7 years ago

September 26, 2017

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A report by FBN Capital, the investment and research arm of FBN Holdings, has revealed that the Investors and Exporters, I&E Forex Window has attracted $11.2 billion as at September 15,

The research firm said: “The pick-up in oil production has been an obvious positive for

accumulation. Officials are encouraging the view that it is back at, or close to the 2.0 million barrels per day level. Further, the FGN may well return to the Eurobond market this year. The heavily-oversubscribed Iraqi sovereign issue last month without US guarantees was a reminder of the strength of the market.”

Continuing, it said: “On the basis of the balance of payments for 2016, reserves at end-August provided 10.8 months’ merchandise import cover. When we add imports of services, the cover is still 8.1 months,” it said.

The report explained that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will also be boosted by the signals from the I&E window, where turnover has continued to soar since it was launched inApril 21.

The positive performance at the window has also been attributed to CBN’s policies, especially its instruction to banks and other authorised dealers to implement electronic Certificate of Capital Importation (eCCI) for foreign investors.

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The Certificate of Capital Importation is given to foreign investors to confirm the level of investment they have brought into the country. The certificate has always been on hard copy until this policy shift.

The eCCI implementation, which takes effect tomorrow, is expected to boost transparency and enhance confidence of foreign investors in the local market. The foreign investors constitute about 70 per cent of the total transaction turnover in the capital market.

Meanwhile, activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, flagged off the new week on Monday September 25, on a negative note pulling down value of lead indices.

Consequently, All-Share Index slumped by 0.37 percent or 130.08 points to close at 35,358.73 points, dragging down the year-to-date return to 31.58 percent while market capitalization depreciated by N44.8 billion to settle at N12.2 trillion.

Nestle led the laggard’s chart dropping N5 to settle at N1225 per share, and Nigerian Breweries dipped by N3.1k to finish at N168 per share. Lafarge dropped N1.48k to close at N50 per share, UBA lost 27k to end at N8.70k per share, and GTBank fell by 10k to wrap the day at N39.50k per share.

Meanwhile, Total Plc, sat atop the gainers’ chart adding N6 to settle at N231 per share, and was followed by GlaxoSmithKline, which increased by 60k to finish at N22 per share. Newrest ASL Nigeria appreciated by 34k to close at N7.16k per share, Custodian and Allied moved up by 17k to end at N3.63 per share, while Eterna inflated by 16k to settle at N3.46k per share.