The NSE market indices recorded a bear market rally for the third consecutive week in September. Specifically, All-share index and Market Capitalization increased marginally by 0.31 percent to close at 28,335.40 points and N9.73 trillion respectively on September 30, 2016. Major drivers of the rally include; increased trade-volume of financial, agricultural and consumer-goods securities. The continued rise in market indices may be connected to a sustained investor confidence in the agricultural and financial sectors on the account of the ongoing activities of the government and the CBN to stabilize the sectors.

Nigerias domestic crude production increased significantly in April 2017. OPECs Month-on-Month data shows a 22.6 percent increase to 1.5 million barrels per day constituting the biggest increase among oil producing group. Crude production increased at the backdrop of completion of scheduled maintenance/repairs at the Bonga oil field, implying resumption of crude production by an additional 225,000 barrels. Remarkably, Nigeria is progressively moving towards meeting daily output benchmark/target (2.2 million barrels per day). Given recent boost in domestic crude oil production, considerable effort should be made to improve the countrys refining capacity in order to reduce fuel importation and conserve foreign exchange.