Bitcoin swung between gains and losses near the $8,000 (R 93 3420, 00) level, paring an earlier rebound, as investors digested the decision by Twitter Inc. to ban advertisements for initial coin offerings and token sales on its service.

The largest cryptocurrency traded flat at $7,847.87 (R 91 566,99) as of 11 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to consolidated Bloomberg pricing.

The food security of around 124 million people worldwide was under acute threat at the end of last year, mostly because of worsening conflicts and drought, the UN and EU said Thursday.

The worst food crises in 2017 were in northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen and South Sudan, “where nearly 32 million people were food-insecure and in need of urgent assistance”, the two organisations said in an annual report on food crises.

“Conflicts and climate-related shocks have recently sent levels of world hunger marching back up, following decades of steady decline.”

Global oil traders Vitol and Glencore are in talks to financially back Nigerian firms racing to buy assets owned by Brazil’s Petrobras valued at up to $2 billion, several sources familiar with the matter said.

The potential consortiums including Glencore and Vitol offer the local bidders financial backing that would otherwise be hard to secure directly through international banks.

For the traders, a deal would guarantee access to high-quality crude oil for many years. They would then be able to syndicate out the debt to banks.

Ecobank Trans International has announced that it made a ₦88.3bn profit before tax in 2017 as against a ₦33.7bn loss before tax in 2016.

The bank also announced that its gross earnings in naira increased from ₦665 billion in 2016 to ₦763 billion in 2017.

Meanwhile, the group’s total equity appreciated by 24 percent N664.7bn, total assets increased by 10 percent to N6.864tn, while its total liabilities also rose by eight percent to N6.16tn.

The naira appreciated against the dollar week on week at the investors & exporters foreign exchange window (I&E FxW) and parrallel market segment.

The currency strengthened at I&EFxW and black market by 0.16 per cent and 0.28 per cent to close at N360.00 and N362.00 to a dollar respectively amid $306 million accretion to the external reserve last week and the CBN weekly injection of $210 million into the forex marker total turnover in the I&E FX window dropped sharply by 27.5 per cent to $1.10 billion, with bulk of trades settled within the N360-N369 band.

The federal government has directed the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure that budget implementation follows procurement plans.

It warned against any act not in tune with the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s drive to deliver dividends of democracy.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, issued the directive yesterday in a new circular titled: ‘Need for proper compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 by Ministries, Departments and Agencies for all Procurements.’

Complaint from the Aviation sector was on Sunday rated as the third highest in 2017 by Consumer Protection Council (CPC). The Director General of CPC Babatunde Irukera made this known in a brief chat with newsmen in Lagos. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr Irukere said the sector came after Telecommunications and Banking sectors which had the first and second highest number of consumer complaints respectively.

OPEC and its allies held further discussions about changing the way they measure the impact of their production cuts, including proposals that would affect how quickly they hit their target, according to delegates from the group.

One option that OPEC and non-OPEC delegates discussed in Vienna on Monday is to continue measuring commercial oil inventories in developed economies against the five-year average, but without counting years of high stockpiles, the delegates said. Another option is to use a seven-year inventory average, they said. This would move their goal of reducing stockpiles to normal levels further from reach, potentially requiring a longer period of cuts to achieve it. Delegates also considered a period of more than seven years.

While the people said no final decision has been taken and the ultimate choice rests with ministers -- who didn’t attend the Vienna meeting -- the talks underscore the lingering uncertainty as the producers’ agreement enters a second year. They are going beyond their pledged cuts and crude has rallied above $60 a barrel, but there are signs that Saudi Arabia would like to go further.

Dangote Cement Plc said it got approval from Nigerian regulators to issue 300 billion naira ($833 million) in local-currency bonds as it seeks to fund expansion and refinance debt. Africa’s largest producer of the building material plans issue the debt over three years, Chief Financial Officer Brian Egan said during an investor conference call on Tuesday. The bond will be issued in tranches of 50 billion naira at a time whenever interest rates are favorable, said Egan.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has injected 210 million dollars into the inter-bank Foreign Exchange Market, in its bid to sustain liquidity in the foreign exchange market. The Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, in a statement said that the move would ensure the continuous availability of foreign exchange to customers.