FIXED INCOME MARKET
Money Market
The Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) remained unchanged at 16.25%, while the Overnight Rate (O/N) trended higher to settle at 17.25% from 16.75%, recorded the previous day.
Treasury Bills
The NTB secondary market closed the week on a muted note, albeit with a bearish theme, as most offers seen today were skewed to 28 September 2023 paper at c.11.55%, but bids were scarce. Overall, the average rate closed relatively flat to settle at 8.91%.
Bonds
The FGN bonds market sustained selling interest across 2029s, 2032s, and 2037s, but bids were c.30bps far from quoted offers, thus little to no action was recorded at today’s session. Overall, the average yield was unchanged, day-on-day to settle at 14.08%.
Eurobonds
The SSA Eurobond market closed the week bullish, with average price across the major African markets up by c.1.75pts amid oil price appreciation, retail investors’ interest, and the 2023 budget presentation of the Nigerian government. Overall, the average yield across the Nigerian sovereign curve settled at 12.81%.
In other news, the non-farm payrolls increased by 263,000 (Est. 255,000) jobs last month, the Labor Department said in its closely watched employment report today, while data for August was unrevised to show 315,000 jobs added as previously reported. Also, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.50%, from 3.70% reported last month.
Equities
The domestic bourse closed the day on a positive note, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) gained 0.19% day-on-day to settle at 47,351.43pts, while year-to-date return extended to +10.85%. Buy interest was seen in stocks such as International Breweries Plc (+5.56%), BUA Foods Plc (+3.33%), and Zenith Bank Plc (+1.30%), respectively.
The NGX Banking and Consumer Goods Indices gained ca 1.04% and 0.13% while the NGX Oil & Gas Index lost ca 0.41% day-on-day, respectively. The NGX Industrial Index closed flat.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc led both the volume and value charts with ca 33.79 million units, traded at ca ₦573.80 million worth of trades.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) rate depreciated to ₦439.17/US$1.00 from ₦436.63/US$1.00, recorded the previous day.
Commodities
Global oil prices surged on the back of OPEC+ plan to slash crude supply amid concerns about a recession and rising interest rates. Brent Crude Oil price rose ca 3.89% day-on-day to settle at US$98.09pb, while WTI gained ca 4.42% day-on-day to settle at US$92.37pb as at report time. Spot Gold lost ca 0.38% day-on-day to close at US$1,714.30 per ounce as of report time.
