BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Bitcoin investors lose $59.9bn; Dangote to invest in Cameroon’s oil market; Other stories

Hello, and welcome to Business Roundup this week. Here, we bring you highlights of events that happened during the week -from the capital market to the mainstream business activities, while not forgetting the tech/economy build up.

Here are the Headlines:

• Naira weakens at official market
• Aliko Dangote to invest in Cameroon’s oil market amid revenue decline
• Airtel shareholders lose N282bn as firm’s valuation drops by 10%
• Launch of ECOWAS single currency ‘eco’ delayed to 2027
• Bitcoin investors lose $59.9bn

Summary:

The Nigerian currency, Naira fell against the U.S dollar on the official market yesterday despite decrease in market activity.

Data posted on the FMDQ Security Exchange on Thursday where forex is officially traded showed Naira closed at N411.67 per $1.

Yesterday’s closing exchange rate implies a N0.17 or 0.04 percent devaluation from N411.50 the rate it traded in the previous session on Wednesday. Read more

Cameroon is the next stop for Nigerian billionaire, Aliko Dangote, as he furthers plan to situate a oil and gas business with the Central African country.

Oil is the major revenue source for Cameroon just like Nigeria since it was discovered in 1977. It accounts for nearly 40 percent of export commodities, even though its projected to drop by 11.1 percent between 2021 and 2022

But regardless of the forecast, Dangote wants to make a play for Cameroon’s oil operation, in a bid to improve his company’s revenue stream from the country, which is currently dominated by cement sales. Read more

Airtel Africa’s shareholders lost N282.98 billion on Tuesday as the company’s market valuation crashed at the end of trading at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The telecommunications company’s value was down by 10 percent after its market capitalisation dropped to N2.54 trillion at the close of business.

This was lower than the previous N2.83 trillion as some investors engaged in massive sell-off of their shares in the company. Read more

The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has agreed to postpone the debut of its single currency, the “eco,” until 2027.

Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission, stated this at a news conference after a summit of leaders in Ghana on Saturday.

The bloc had planned to launch a common currency this year but postponed the plan due to challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Read more

 Read also: BUSINESS ROUNDUP: Power generation rises by 8.46% in one week; CBN to sell N722bn treasury bills in Q3; Other stories

Bitcoin investors in Nigeria and other countries across the world suffered a huge loss on Monday as the value of the most popular cryptocurrency dropped by 6.48 percent within 24 hours.

Ripples Nigeria gathered that price of the crypto coin dropped between $31,744.99 and $36,119.80 during the period.

However, the price continued to hover below $40,000 per coin. Read more

On NSE ROUNDUP: Market indices down by 0.78% as investors lose N150bn

Investors at the Nigerian stock market lost N150billion during trading activities as the bourse slipped back to the negative zone on Friday.

At the close of business on Friday, the market capitalization stood at N19.63 trillion.

This was N150 billion lower than the N19.78 trillion reported the previous day.

The All-Share Index also lost 296.09 points or 0.78 percent to close at 37,658.26 against 37,954.35 achieved on Thursday. Read more

On the tech scene, it was another great week for Nigeria, particularly Lagos State as it displaced Nairobi to become Africa’s top startup city.

During the week, Nigeria also stunned the world by claiming 5 slots of 10 in the new Africa Startup Initiative Programme cohort.

Unfortunately, however, Nigeria wasn’t lucky enough on equity raiser points as most of the rounds we were able to trackwas dominated by startups from Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana and Egypt. Read full review

Remarks

Thanks for joining the roundup this week. See you next week for another serving. Don’t forget, for the latest news and updates from around the globe, keep reading Ripples Nigeria.

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