A financial expert, Mr Eddie Osarenkhoe, has advised the Federal Government to align its fiscal policy with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s monetary policy to achieve economic stability.

Osarenkhoe, the immediate past President of Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN), gave the advice while speaking with newsmen on Wednesday in Ota, Ogun.

He attributed the current steady appreciation of the naira to CBN’s reforms and the country’s ability to pay some of its debts.

Osarenkhoe applauded the CBN reforms which, he said, had helped to sustain the steady appreciation of the naira against the dollar.

The financial expert stated that CBN was able to check speculators in the foreign exchange, thus resulting in continuous appreciation of the nation’s currency.

“If the federal government is able to come up with fiscal policy in alignment with that of CBN, it will help the nation’s economy a great deal,” he said.

According to him, the economy needs to improve through exports to enable the country to earn more foreign exchange.

The naira has shown a remarkable strength against the US dollar, trading below N1,000 at the official market.

This development has been attributed to the strategic financial policies being implemented by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration and CBN.

Investors in the Nigerian equities market lost N457 billion at the end of trading on Wednesday.

This followed the dip in the share value of Livestock Feeds, Computer Warehouse Group, International Energy Insurance, and FTN Cocoa Processors on the trading floor today.

After five hours of trading at the capital market, the equity capitalisation crashed to N56.5 trillion from N56.9 trillion posted by the bourse on Tuesday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell below the 100,000-mark to 99,908.89 from 100,717.21 achieved by the bourse the previous day.

The market breadth was negative as 17 stocks advanced, 26 declined, while 78 others remained unchanged in 9, 074 deals.

Ikeja Hotel topped the gainers’ list with +10.00 percent to close at N7.26 from its previous N6.60 per share.

Fidelity Bank, Academy, Morison, and Prestige also increased their share prices by 9.88 percent, 9.77 percent, 9.71 percent, and 9.26 percent respectively.

On the flip side, Livestock Feeds, Computer Warehouse Group, International Energy Insurance, and FTN Cocoa Processors led other price decliners as they shed 10.00 percent, 9.79 percent, 9.79 percent and 9.72  percent each off their share prices.

UBA recorded the highest volume by trading 55.013 million shares valued at N1.28 billion in 1,092 deals followed by Zenith Bank with 47.029 million shares worth N1.69 billion traded by investors in 907 deals.

Access Corp traded 44.986 million shares valued at N789 million in 845 deals.

On the value index, Zenith Bank recorded the highest value for the day trading stocks worth N1.69 billion in 907 deals followed by UBA which traded equities worth N1.284bn in 1,092 deals.

Access Corp traded stocks worth N789 million in 845 deals.

The Nigerian stock market ended with a negative market breadth, closing 1,059.91 points lower.

The NGX All-Share Index declined by 1.04 percent to close at 100,717.21 basis points, compared to the previous day’s loss of 0.53 percent to close at 101,777.12 basis points. The NGX Market CAP also recorded a loss of N598.69bn Naira terms. YTD, the NGXASI Stands at 34.70 percent.

The total volume traded advanced by 23.65 percent to close at N403.89m, valued at N8.38bn, and traded in 10,170 deals. ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume with N62.93m, while GTCO was the most traded stock by value with N1.74bn units traded.

The Gote Index declined by 0.46 percent to close at 347.33 basis points, while the Toni index declined by 3.94 percent to close at 565.65 basis points.

At the close of trading, the market recorded 7 gainers, 50 losers, and 67 unchanged. MORISON topped the gainers’ list, while CORNERST topped the losers’ list.

Thus, the market closed with a negative market breadth index (MBI) of -0.64x.