Naira soars at parallel market as NSE index drops

The Nigerian local currency soared higher at the parallel segment of the Nigerian Foreign exchange market, exchanging for N363 to a Dollar.

Against the British Pound Sterling, the local currency exchanged at the rate of N472 at the black market, and closed the day at the rate of N432 against the European Single Currency, Euro.

The appreciation in the value of the naira came after the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, pumped a fresh sum of $250 million into the forex market, in it’s continued bid to boost liquidity.

Meanwhile, transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Wednesday, August 30, continued movement south on failed rally.

Consequently, the All share index dropped 1.48 per cent to settle at 35,629.13 points as against 36,165.93points recorded on Tuesday.

Similarly, market capitalisation diipped to N12.280 trillion from N12.465 trillion recorded in the previous session.

Market breadth remained negative with 7 gainers paired against 31 losers.

First Aluminum and Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) led the days’ laggards with a depreciation of 5 per cent each to close at 57 kobo and N3.23 per share respectively.

Mobil followed with a decline of 4.99 per cent to close at N3.23, Dangote Sugar fell 4.89 percent to close at N13.22 and Honey well Flour Mills depreciated 4.29 per cent to close at N2.01 per share.

On the flip side, Cutix added 9.95 per cent to close at N2.43. It was trailed by May & Baker which grew by 4.51 per cent to close at N3.01 per share, and Continental Re-insurance added 4.48 per cent to close at N1.40 per share.

ALSO SEE: Naira devaluation may hamper external debt sustainability – PWC

Total also gained 2.75 per cent to close at N243 per share while NEM Insurance advanced by 1.01 per cent to close the day at N1 per share.

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Nigerian Breweries and Nestle recorded marginal growth having closed the day at N185 and N1,220.05 per share respectively.

At the end of the day’s session, investors in 4,371 deals traded a total of 239.9mn shares valued at N2.9bn as against a total 144.5 million shares worth N1.5 billion traded in 3,716 deals on Tuesday.