Business
Nigerian Equity Market Dips Further By 0.59%
Activities on the Nigerian
Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday for the second consecutive day, maintained a negative posture with the market indicators dropping further by 0.59 per cent amid losses by blue chips.
The Tide source reports that Nigerian Breweries topped the losers’ chart, dropping by N6.68 to close at N115.32 per share.
Lafarge came second with a loss of N1.50 to close at N71.50, while Dangote Cement dropped N1 to close at N168 per share.
Cadbury declined by 82k to close at N15.68, while Union Dicon shed 59k to close at N11.21 per share.
Consequently, the All-Share Index lost 151.63 points or 0.59 per cent to close at 25,563.79 compared with 25,715.42 achieved on Wednesday.
Also, the market capitalisation which opened trading at N8.845 trillion decreased by N52 billion or 0.59 per cent to close at N8.793 trillion.
Nestle Nigeria led the gainers’ table growing by N10 to close at N690 per share.
Forte Oil followed with a gain of N9.48 to close at N199.48 and Total garnered 97k to close at N157 per share.
Conoil appreciated by 82k to close at N17.27, while Guinness increased by 54k to close at N94 per share.
The volume of shares traded closed lower as investors bought and sold 178.87 million shares worth N1.48 billion exchanged in 3,786 deals.
This was in contrast with a total of 330.57 million shares valued at N2.26 billion traded in 4,053 deals on Wednesday.
FBN Holdings remained the toast of investors with 27.84 million shares worth N98.74 million.
It was trailed by UBA with an exchange of 26.50 million shares valued at N92.39 million, while Zenith Bank sold 15.96 million shares worth N207.61 million.
Fidelity Bank traded 13.88 million shares valued at N15.22 million and Livestock Feeds accounted for 10.26 million shares worth N8.34 million.
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Banking/ Finance
Ripple Survey Reveals Appetite for Digital Assets
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.
