FIXED INCOME MARKET
Money Markets
Interbank system liquidity improved today, opening with a credit balance of ₦222.37 billion, compared to Friday’s opening balance of ca ₦112.98 billion. However, the overnight (ON) rate remained unchanged at 5.00%, while the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) rates trended higher to settle at 4.67% from 4.50% on Friday.
Treasury Bills
The NTB secondary market opened the week on a muted note, albeit with a bullish undertone, with buy-side interest skewed towards the Aug’22, Jan’23, Feb’23, and Mar’23 NTB papers. Overall, the average rates stayed flat, day-on-day to settle at 3.45% due to the scanty volume of trades executed across board.
Bonds
Despite the coupon inflows of c.N55bn credited to the system today, the FGN Bonds secondary market reflected a mixed to bearish theme as market players continued to trade cautiously. Maturities at the belly of the curve witnessed the most traction, with cherry-picking activity also observed on the 2042s and 2050s. Overall, the average yield rose ca 3bps, day-on-day to close at 10.40%.
Eurobonds
The SSA Sovereign Eurobond space began the week with calm sentiments, save for some sell-side movement observed on Ghana papers, as investors anticipate the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting slated for tomorrow. Consequently, the average yield inched up by c.7bps day-on-day, at 7.79%.
Equities
The domestic bourse recorded a mildly bearish performance at the start of the week, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) lost 0.02% day-on-day to settle at 47,428.67pts, while year-to-date return reduced to +11.03%. This was driven by profit-taking activities in Bellwethers like Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (-1.11%) and MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (-0.49%).
The NGX Banking and Industrial indices gained ca 1.15% and 0.12%, while the NGX Consumer Goods Oil and Gas index lost ca 0.41% and 0.33%, day-on-day, respectively.
First City Monument Bank Plc led both the volume and value charts with ca 1.02 billion units, traded at 3.84 billion worth of trades.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) rate remained stable at ₦416.50/US$1.00.
Commodities
Global crude oil prices sharply dropped during today’s session, on concerns of crude recovery as Russia and Ukraine resumed peace talks and China resumed lockdown restrictions due to the surge in COVID cases. Thus, Brent Crude Oil price lost ca 6.27% day-on-day to settle at US$105.61pb, while WTI also dipped ca 6.40% to US$102.33pb as at report time. Spot Gold lost ca 1.22% day-on-day to settle at US$1,960.70 per ounce as at report time.
