FIXED INCOME MARKETS
MONEY MARKETS
Opening system liquidity plunged lower today from -₦323.25 billion yesterday to -₦560.07 billion today. Consequently, the Open Repo Rate (OPR) increased by 119bps to 30.88%, while the Overnight Rate (O/N) increased by 125 bps to 31.84%.
Outlook: We expect interbank rates to increase tomorrow.
Treasury Bills
The treasury bills market continued to trade at a sluggish pace, with unaggressive bids and offers saturating mostly around the long-dated papers. At the closing bell, market closed relatively flat, as the average mid-rate stayed at 19.62%.
Outlook: We expect market to remain tepid in the interim.
FGN Bonds
The FGN local bonds market expressed a frail theme in today’s trading session. Minimal activity was observed on a few papers, including the 2038 and 2053 papers, while maintaining a bearish backdrop. Overall, market closed on a bearish note, as average mid-yield increased by 3bps to 18.22%.
Outlook: We expect a similar trend tomorrow.
Equities
The Nigerian bourse closed bearish today, despite some gains seen on WEMABANK (+3.60%) and MTNN (+1.82%). The All-Share Index lost 0.13% to close at 97,343.42 points, due to selloffs on several tickers, bulk of which were the banking stocks. Thus, the year-to-date return and market capitalization settled at 30.18% and ₦55.06 trillion, respectively.
Across the sectoral indices, the Banking and Consumer Goods Indices lost 1.67% and 0.20%, respectively, while Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas Indices closed flattened. GTCO led both the total volume and value charts with 71.87 million units N3.04 billion.
Outlook: We expect the bearish bias to ease tomorrow.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigeria’s Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEM) appreciated by ₦61.38 (or 4.04%) to $/₦1,459.02 compared to $/₦1,520.40 recorded yesterday.
Outlook: We expect volatility to persist.
Eurobonds
The African Eurobonds market witnessed a bullish theme today, with buyside interests observed across most regions. The markets reacted positively to the CPI report for the US economy released today, which declined slightly to 3.40% y/y and 0.30% m/m, respectively, in line with estimates and c. 0.1% lower than the preceding data. Overall, the Nigerian Eurobonds closed bullish, as average mid-yield decreased by c.10bps to close at 9.57%.
Outlook: We expect the bullish bias to spill into tomorrow’s session, albeit, at a less aggressive pace, as market look forward to supporting indicators.
Commodities
U.S. crude oil rose slightly higher as U.S stockpiles fell by 2.5 million barrels last week, as reported by Energy Information Administration. Brent oil gained 0.06% to $82.43 per barrel, while WTI increased by 0.15% to 78.14 per barrel. In similar fashion, the price of Gold increased by 1.27% to $2,389.80 per ounce, as of writing time.
Outlook: We expect the volatility to persist.
