Naira slides to N376/$1 as NSE index crashes by 0.47%

The naira slides to N367 to a dollar in the parallel market on Monday, from N365 recorded last Friday

National Daily gathered that this latest slide is not unconnected with the rise in forex demand as fuel marketers and other forex users shop for the dollar coupled with Central Bank of Nigeria’s delay in releasing the guidelines for the flexible exchange policy.

According to the President of Association of Bureau De Change Operators, ABCON, Aminu Gwadabe, the naira will continue to fall until the CBN releases the much awaited forex policy guidelines.

A CBN source said the guidelines for the flexible foreign exchange policy may be released before the end of the week, and would define the fate of the naira against the dollar.

Meanwhile, transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, began on a negative note with market indices slide further by 0.47 per cent on Monday from Friday’s performance.

ALSO SEE: Naira dips as CBN flexible exchange rate uncertainty persists

The All-Share Index which opened at 27,232.62 points lost 129.31 points to close at 27,103.31 amid loses by some highly capitalized equities. Similarly, market capitalization shed N45 billion to close at N9.31 trillion against N9.35 trillion recorded on Friday.

An analysis of the price movement chart indicated that Nestle topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N22.98 to close at N757 per shares.

Lafarge Africa trailed with a loss of N3.51 to close at N76.50 per share, while Dangote Cement dipped N1.20 to close at N163.80 per share. Cadbury dropped by 51k to close at N18n per share, while International Breweries depreciated by 48k to close at N19.50 per share.

Conversely, Unilever led the gainers’ table, growing by N1.02 to close at N33.02 per share. Forte Oil followed with a gain of 99k to close at N197.99 per share, while Guinness gained 35k to close at N98 per share. Access Bank increased by 23k to close N5.75 per share and Champion Breweries grew by 16k to close at N2.87 per share.

The volume of shares traded closed with a total of 152.33 million shares valued at N2.29 billion transacted in 3,406 deals. This was in contrast with 190.65 million shares worth N1.63 billion achieved in 3,156 deals on Friday.