The Nigerian Naira on Tuesday depreciated 7.63 percent to close at N881.88 to a dollar at the close of business on Tuesday, data from the NAFEM where forex is officially traded, showed./ /

Nigerian NewsDirect also gathered that the naira traded N1157 to a dollar at the close of market in the parallel market./ /

This represents an N67.28 loss or a 7.63 percent decline in the local currency compared to the N814.60 it closed on Monday.

The intraday high recorded was N1159/$1, while the intraday low was N701/$1, representing a wide spread of N458/$1./ /

According to data obtained from the official NAFEM window, forex turnover at the close of the trading was $118.06 million, representing a 17.99 percent increase compared to the previous day.

Similarly, the naira weakened at the parallel forex market where forex is sold unofficially, the exchange rate depreciated by 0.17 percent, quoted at N1157/$1, while peer-to-peer traders quoted around N1160.18/$1. 

First Bank of Nigeria Holdings and Access Corporation led gainers on the Nigerian equities market on Monday.

This is as investors also lost N132.43billion on the Nigerian equities market yesterday.

The NGX All-Share Index advanced by 0.17 percent, closing at 71,353.81 basis points, compared to the previous day’s gain of 0.25 percent, which closed at 71,230.48 basis points.

YTD, the NGXASI stands at 39.22 percent. 

The total volume traded advanced by 28.12 percent to close at N746.67 million, valued at N5.95 billion and traded in 9,267 deals. UNIVINSURE was the most traded stock by volume with N161.10 million, while ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by value with N1.47 billion units traded.

The Gate Index closed flat at 188.47, while the Toni index advanced by 1.39 percent to close at 371.15 basis points.

At the close of trading, the market recorded 32 gainers, 20 losers, and 69 unchanged. FBNH topped the gainers list, while ETRANZACT topped the list of losers.

Thus, market breadth closed positively as the Market Breadth Index (MBI) is 0.17x.

UNIVINSURE had the highest volume contribution with 21.58 percent, while ACCESSCORP and UNITYBNK followed closely behind.

According to the value chart, ACCESSCORP is at the top with a 24.68 percent contribution. UBA and ZENITHBANK followed closely behind.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has pegged its 2024 projections for crude oil and the dollar to naira exchange rate at $77.96 and N750 respectively.

This new projection is a deviation from the earlier projection announced by Atiku Bagudu, Minister of budget and planning in October.

Bagudu had earlier stated that the FEC established a reference price of $73.96 per barrel for crude oil and an exchange rate of N700/$ as key assumptions for budgetary planning.

“Now, it was presented on the background of the commendable measures that have been taken since June in order to restore macroeconomic stability by particularly the deregulation of petroleum prices, which we maintained that subsidies are gone and indeed the regulation of the foreign exchange market,” he said.

Nigerian NewsDirect however gathered that the projected crude oil price benchmark by the Federal Government is below the $94.91 projection of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the $100 a barrel forecast by Goldman Sachs for next year.