On Thursday, the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU). This decision sent shock waves through the global financial market on Friday, with the stock markets experiencing huge losses. Billionaires on the Bloomberg Billionaires index lost 3.2 percent of their total wealth which came up to a sum of $127bn. The UK’s 15 wealthiest citizens lost $5.5bn while the pound also fell by about 11 percent to its weakest in over three decades.

This week has been an eventful week for Nigeria’s financial market as it has seen several changes in the past five days. These changes include the UK’s exit from the EU and the commencement of the new exchange rate policy regime, which has affected both the stock market and the exchange rate of the Naira. Although there are certain speculations that Brexit could have no adverse effect on Nigeria’s market, Ventures Africa monitored the market to see how it affected the Nigerian stock market as well as the foreign exchange market. Here is what we found out:

The Nigerian Stock Market

The Nigerian stock market ended on a negative note by halting a three-day rally.

  • The All Share Index, which opened at 31,071.25, dropped by 1.36 percent, closing at 30,649.66.
  • Market Capitalisation also dropped by 1.36 percent from N10.67 trillion to close at N10.53 trillion.
  • The volume of shares traded was a total of 444,512,888.

The Foreign Exchange Market

In the parallel market the Naira appreciated against the Dollar and British Pound but depreciated against the Euro.

  • On Thursday the Naira exchanged for N336/$1 while on Friday it exchanged for N335/$1.
  • Naira exchange rate to the Pound was N470/£1 on Thursday and N440/£1 on Friday.
  • The Euro, which was exchanged at N360/ €1 on Thursday, became N375/€1 on Friday.

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