FIXED INCOME MARKETS
Money Market
System liquidity opened at ₦459.34 billion from ₦496.63 billion yesterday. Thus, the Open Repo Rate (OPR) and the Overnight Rate (O/N) appreciated by 7bps and 9bps to 1.00% and 1.67%, respectively.
Outlook: We expect the interbank rates to close at similar levels tomorrow.
Treasury Bills
The treasury bills traded on a calm note today, due to market attention towards today’s auction. Some buyside interests for the long-dated papers came in towards the close of the session. Thus, the average mid-rate declined stayed at 5.92%.
Outlook: We anticipate an unaggressive buyside interests from unmet bids tomorrow.
FGN Bonds
Today’s activity was quite relaxed, as interests for the short end bonds thinned out, while a bearish theme was observed for long dated papers. Overall, the average mid-yield increased by c. 4bps to 14.38%.
Outlook: We envisage similar pattern in tomorrow’s session.
Eurobonds
The Eurobonds market extended its bullish sentiment in today’s session. Buying interests was seen across the curve from the start of the market and was sustained till the end of the session. Consequently, the average yield shed 19bps to settle at 11.78%.
Outlook: We expect market sentiment to be partly influenced by any surprises from today’s FOMC’s minutes as well as US CPI data. As of writing, the market expects the US CPI to print lower than previous data at 3.60% y/y for September, from 3.70% in August. Core monthly CPI is expected to remain the same.
Equities
The Nigerian’s equity market settled bullish today, as the ASI gained 0.17% to settle at 67,100.49 points, while year-to-date return settled at c.30.93. The buying interests on TRANSCORP (+5.41%) and BUACEMENT (+2.32%) stirred the bullish bias.
The NGX Industrial and Consumer Goods Indices appreciated by 0.95% and 0.01%, respectively. The Banking Index declined by 0.27%, while the Oil & Gas Index closed flat. NEIMETH led the volume charts with 163.20 million units while ZENITHBANK led the value charts with ₦1.01 billion.
Outlook: We expect a mixed bias to persist.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Investors and Exporters (I&E) exchange rate depreciated to $/₦776.80, compared to $/₦765.83 recorded yesterday.
Outlook: We expect rates volatility to persist.
Commodities
Oil prices fell today, as fears of disruption to supplies due to conflict in the Middle East receded a day after top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia pledged to help stabilize the market. Brent crude oil prices declined by 1.96% to $85.93 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) declined by 2.45% to US$85.85 per barrel as of writing time. In contrast, Spot Gold appreciated 0.48% to US$1,884.30 per ounce at the time of this report.
