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Jan 23, 2018: Nigerian stocks fell 2.7 pct to a one-week low on Tuesday after the central bank called off an interest rate meeting scheduled for Jan. 22-23.<\/p>\nJan 23, 2018: Nigerian stocks fell 2.7 pct to a one-week low on Tuesday after the central bank called off an interest rate meeting scheduled for Jan. 22-23.<\/p>\n
The central bank said the meeting was not held due to its inability to form a quorum,adding that it will maintain its benchmark interest rate at 14 percent, the level it has kept for more than a year, to tighten liquidity and support the currency.<\/p>\n
Stocks also fell on Monday, the day the MPC<\/span> had been due to start meeting to decide on interest rates.<\/p>\n Stocks fell below to 44,000 points, to a level last seen in January 2018. The main index, which gained 42 percent in 2017, fell for the second straight day after climbing to a nine-year high last week.<\/p>\n Traders had hinged this year\u2019s rally on hopes of a stable currency and lower interest rates driving corporate earnings.<\/p>\n The decision to cancel the meeting comes as several new members of the MPC<\/span> are yet to be approved by lawmakers, a situation resulting from a standoff between Nigeria\u2019s presidency and parliament over the latter\u2019s powers to confirm or deny executive nominees to key posts within the government.<\/p>\n At least five of the MPC\u2019s 12 members are due to be replaced after retiring last year.<\/p>\n Analysts say the stalemate could damage investor confidence in the economy which is already fragile and risk derailing reforms badly needed to boost growth.<\/p>\n The index of Nigeria\u2019s top 10 lenders fell 4.1 percent to lead the decliners.<\/p>\n Fidelity Bank shed 9.2 percent to fall the most. Dangote Cement, which accounts for a third of market capitalisation, fell 4.8 percent.<\/p>\n REUTERS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jan 23, 2018: Nigerian stocks fell 2.7 pct to a one-week low on Tuesday after the central bank called off an interest rate meeting scheduled for Jan. 22-23. The central bank said the meeting was not held due to its inability to form a quorum,adding that it will maintain its benchmark interest rate at 14 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n