Shares of Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria hit all-time highs

ABUJA (Reuters) -Shares of MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa hit all-time highs on Tuesday, lifting Nigeria's main stock index, after the central bank paved way for the telecoms companies to operate their mobile money services in Africa's most populous country.

MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa rose for the second straight day after they were granted in-principle approval last week by Nigeria's central bank for the mobile money licence, which had been pending for more than two years since they applied.

Shares of MTN Nigeria, the country's second biggest-listed company, rose 3.90% to 208 naira while those of third biggest Airtel Africa gained 2.56% to 933 naira. The stock index also gained for a second day, rising 1.07% to its highest in more than 3-1/2 years at 43,732.37 points.

Nigeria hopes the mobile money service will help drive financial inclusion and innovation. Mobile phone operators have been pushing into financial services on the African continent, where a large part of the population do not have good access to traditional banking services.

(Reporting by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

By Chijioke Ohuocha