FIXED INCOME MARKET
Money Market
Interbank system liquidity declined significantly today, opening with a balance of -₦115.93 billion, compared to yesterday’s opening balance of ca ₦28.86 billion. Nonetheless, the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) and the Overnight Rate (ON) held steady at 14.50% and 15.00%, respectively.
Treasury Bills
The NTB secondary market traded on a muted note, with mild interest recorded across selected maturities 16-Mar-2023 and long-dated OMO papers ahead of tomorrow’s NTB auction. Overall, the average rate stayed relatively flat at 7.78%.
Bonds
The FGN bonds market traded mixed to bullish, with selling interest seen across 2025s, 2026s and 2027s, while notable demand was seen across 2032s, 2042s and 2050s. Consequently, the average yield dipped by c.8bps day-on-day, to settle at 13.03%.
Eurobonds
The Eurobonds market had some respite in today’s session, as few demand filtered through the market (especially across Nigeria and Angola papers ) amid coupon inflows, thus causing prices to trend up. Ghana, however, maintained its soft tone with mild selling interest. Overall, the average yield across the Nigerian sovereign curve settled at 11.78%.
Equities
The domestic bourse closed the day in the red, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) lost 1.60% day-on-day to close at 48,567.14 points, while the year-to-date returns were trimmed to +13.70%. Profit-taking activities leaned towards stocks like BUA Foods Plc (-9.92%), Seplat Energy Plc (-8.44%), Dangote Cement Plc (-5.33%), and BUA Cement Plc (-4.64%), respectively.
The NGX Oil & Gas, Industrial, Consumer Goods and Banking Indices lost ca 4.94%, 4.62%, 3.13%, and 0.07%, day-on-day, respectively.
Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc led the volume chart with ca 44.01 million units while Dangote Cement Plc topped the value charts with ca ₦665.74 million worth of trades
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) rate depreciated to ₦430.67/US$1.00 from ₦429.43/US$1.00, recorded the previous day.
Commodities
Global oil prices rose as Saudi Arabia floated the idea of OPEC+ output cuts to support prices and the prospect of a drop in US crude stockpiles. Brent Crude Oil price rose ca 3.02% day-on-day to settle at US$99.39pb, while WTI gained ca 3.13% day-on-day to settle at US$93.19pb as at report time. Spot Gold rose ca 0.77% day-on-day to close at US$1,761.90 per ounce as of report time.
