The Nigeria Stock Exchange, NSE yesterday continued its record breaking performance with total market capitalisation rising by N437 billion, thus extending investors gain to N1.7 trillion in the first eight trading days of the year.

Driven by rally from both local and foreign investors, the Nigeria Stock Exchange, yesterday’s performance jerked up the NSE All Share Index, to 43,041.54 points, the highest in nine years.

Specifically, the All share Index significantly appreciated by 1,125.43 points or 2.9 percent from 41,816.11 points on Wednesday, the highest since October 2009.

In the same vein, market capitalisation (total values of shares), which opened at N14. 8 trillion increased by N437 billion to close at N15.317 billion.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday crossed over 40,000 mark for the first time after October 2014 following sustained gains by blue chips. The reports stated that the index closed higher at 40,362.97 compared with 39,849.65 posted on Monday, indicating an increase of 513.32 points or 1.29 per cent. Similarly, the market capitalisation which opened at N14.181 trillion inched N182 billion or 1.28 per cent to close at N14.363 trillion.

President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote, has again been named Africa’s richest man by Forbes, for the seventt year running.

Dangote networth is put at about $12.2 billion, an increase of $100 million a year ago.

Forbes said: “Dangote is looking beyond cement, his most valuable asset, and has been investing in a fertiliser production company and a large oil refinery. Dangote Fertiliser is expected to start operations in the second quarter this year.”

It would be recalled that Dangote was also recently the only African selected among Bloomberg’s world 50 best persons in the year 2017.

The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Rep. Joseph Akinlaja has said that the speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is crucial in solving the persistent fuel crises in the country.

Akinlaja told newsmen in Abuja that the committee was working assiduously to ensure that the bill was passed before the tenure of the current 8th national assembly ends.

The lawmaker said that three out of the four segments of the bill were currently before the committee of Petroleum Resources and would soon be presented to the House.

“The assurance as given to us as a directive by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara is that this PIB must be concluded during this tenure.

“And this year by the grace of God we not only hope we believe that the bill will be passed by the National Assembly and sent to Mr President for assent.

“This is our own bill and it was segmented to enable us work thoroughly on it.

Flour Mills of Nigeria will market a share sale to existing investors on Jan. 15 to raise N39.86 billion (130 million dollars).

The Nigeria Stock Exchange has granted the approval for the right issue.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the flour and pasta maker will offer 1.47 billion shares at 27 Naira a piece, an 18.2 per cent discount to Thursday’s market price of 33 Naira.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it has no plans to increase the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also called petrol. In a statement, the Group General Manager in the Public Affairs Divisions of the Corporation Mr Ndu Ughamadu assured motorists and other consumers of petroleum products that the pump price of petrol still remains N143 per litre in NNPC Retail outlets and N145 in other fuel stations, while PMS ex-depot price of N133.28k per litre to marketers is still being maintained.

Honeywell FlourMills Plc and Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, CCNN, and 54 other companies that recorded varying degree of price increase today buoyed the equities capitalisation by N436 billion as the market continues to gallop. Honeywell FlourMills Plc, which led the pack, rose by 9.97 percent to close at N3.20 from N2.91.

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has stated that the country currently has 2,000 megawatts of electricity that is not being utilised as a result of inadequate distribution infrastructure.

Fashola said this at the January 2018 edition of the monthly power sector operators’s meeting in Lafia, Nasarawa.

The Minister explained that the power was not being utilized because manufacturers had not shown interest in making use of it.

Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators in the country are struggling to survive following a drop in margins caused by uncompetitive dollar selling rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The development has lead to a downsizing of their workforce by most of the operators.

The CBN sells $20,000 dollars twice per week at N360 per dollars to each of the 3,500 BDCs across the country.

According to data released by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Debt Management Office (DMO) will offer over treasury bills worth N1 trillion in the first quarter of 2018.

The amount which represents 85 percent of the total bills that would mature in the first quarter comes after the Debt Management Office redeemed N198 billion worth of treasury bills with proceeds from the $3 billion Eurobond issue.

In December, the DMO had stated that it would not roll over the treasury bills as part of its “overall debt management strategy of reducing debt service costs”.

“Other objectives of this strategy are to free up space in the domestic market for other borrowers and achieve a more sustainable debt portfolio mix of 60% domestic and 40% external,” the DMO said at that time.