FIXED INCOME MARKET
Money Markets
Interbank system liquidity opened with a balance of c.₦ 189.63 billion compared to Friday’s opening balance of c.₦ 203.73 billion. Thus, the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) inched up to 11.88% from 11.38% recorded on Friday, while the Overnight (ON) rate declined to 12.75% from 13.00%.
Treasury Bills
The treasury bills market opened the week bullish, with sustained buying interest recorded on 23 Nov 2023 NTB by market players at c.12.20% levels, but offers remained pegged at 12.00% ahead of Wednesday’s NTB auction. Overall, the average rate closed c.7bps lower, to settle at 7.61%.
Bonds
The FGN bonds market endured a quiet theme, albeit with a bullish undertone. Investors’ interests were skewed towards 2026s, 2029s, 2032s and 2037s but offers were relatively wide from the quoted bids. Thus, the average mid-yield closed c.3bps lower, to settle at 14.49%.
Eurobonds
The Eurobond market traded mixed to bullish, with Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, and Egypt papers recording significant buying interest, amid optimism over the potential reopening of the Chinese economy. Overall, the average yield across the Nigerian sovereign curve settled at 11.22%.
In other news, Ghana intends to swap local debt (Treasury bills not inclusive) for new bonds in restructuring deal, with no haircut on principals. They also plan to share details on external restructuring in due course.
Equities
The domestic bourse opened the week bullish, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) appreciated by c.0.24% day-on-day to close at 48,270.23pts, while year-to-date returns extended to +13.00%. This performance was largely due to buyside trades recorded on bellwethers like Guinness (+10.00%) and TRANSCORP (+0.85%), respectively.
The NGX Industrial, Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods indices gained c.1.66%, 2.56% and 0.63% respectively, while the NGX Banking index lost c.1.29% day-on-day. First Bank of Nigeria Holdings Plc led both the volume chart and value charts with c.83.79 million units and c.₦912.73 million worth of trades.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) rate remained unchanged at ₦445.33/US$1.00 recorded on Friday.
Commodities
Oil prices rose on Monday after OPEC+ nations held their output targets steady ahead of a European Union ban and a G7 price cap on Russian crude. Brent Crude Oil price gained c.0.53% day-on-day to settle at US$86.02pb, while WTI rose c.0.33% day-on-day to settle at US$80.20pb as at report time. Spot Gold lost c.1.13% day-on-day to close at US$1,789.30 per ounce as of report time.
