Naira depreciates by 44kobo as CBN sells N110bn TBs

By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE & CHINEDU IBEABUCHI
LAGOS — The Naira,Tuesday, depreciated by 44 kobo at the interbank foreign exchange market even as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, sold N110 billion worth of Treasury Bills, TBs.

Data from Financial Market Dealers Association, FMDA, showed that the interbank foreign exchange rate rose to 157.24 kobo per dollar from N156.8 on Monday, indicating 44 kobo depreciation.

This sharply contrasts with the five kobo appreciation of the Naira at the official market on Monday, where the official exchange rate dropped to N155.72 from N155.77 per dollar owing to sharp decline in demand.

On the other hand, the CBN continued its liquidity mop-up, yesterday, by selling N110 billion worth of treasury bills at interest rate of 13 per cent. Last week, the apex bank mopped-up N384 billion from the interbank market through the sale of TBs.

Investors gain N120bn on NSE

Meanwhile, the value of equities listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange maintained  upward trend, yesterday,  as investors gained N120.65 billion.

The key market indices that gauge performance on the NSE, represented by the market capitalisation and the All Share Index both rose by 1.29 per cent.

The market capitalisation that opened at N9.37 trillion appreciated by N120.65 billion to close at N9.49 trillion while all share index appreciated by 377.25 points to close at 29,686.95 points from 29.309.70 points.

United Bank for Africa Plc led in the gainers chart, as 50 equities gained in share price value, compared to eight equities that dropped. UBA appreciated by 9.83 per cent to close at N6.59 per share from N6.00.

This was followed by Sterling Bank Plc that gained 8.64 per cent to close at N2.39 per share and Red Star Express Plc rose by 8.33 per cent to close at N3.25 per share, among others.

On the contrary, Cutix Plc recorded the highest share price loss, depreciating by five per cent to close at N1.52 per share from N1.60 per share. This was followed by B.O.C Gases Plc that lost 4.88 per cent to close at N6.24 per share   and UTC Nigeria Plc dropped by 4.82 per cent to close at 0.79 per share.

Meanwhile, the volume of equity transactions went up by 73.52 per cent to close at 822.69 million shares valued at N5.07 billion exchanged in 7,379 deals as against 474.10 million shares valued at N3.51 billion exchanged in 6,316 deals.

The Financial sector led the market transaction volume with 734.21 million shares valued at N3.95 billion exchanged in 4,987 deals compared to 397.76 million shares valued at N2.76 billion exchanged in 4,377 deals recorded in previous session.

The volume recorded in the sector was driven by transaction in the shares of Abbey Building Society Plc, Diamond BANK Plc, United Bank For Africa Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Skye Bank Plc and the total volume of 233.14 million shares valued at N1.37 billion traded in the five stocks accounted for 58.61 per cent of the entire market volume.