FIXED INCOME MARKETS
MONEY MARKETS
Opening system liquidity declined by 5.63% to ₦535.58 billion from ₦567.50 billion recorded yesterday. Overall, the Open Repo Rate (OPR) remained unchanged at 23.68%, while the Overnight Rate (O/N) increased by 4 bps to 24.18%.
Outlook: We expect interbank rates to stay elevated in the interim.
Treasury Bills
The treasury bills market posted a bearish bias today, following the uptick in stop rates at yesterday’s auction. Noticeably, interests veered across long-dated papers, albeit, on a less aggressive note. To quantify, the average mid-rate increased 9 bps to 20.37%.
Outlook: We expect a similar session tomorrow.
FGN Bonds
The local FGN bonds market was quiet today, with mild activity noticed on few maturities. Overall, the market closed slightly bearish, as average mid-yield increased marginally by 1bp to 18.83%.
Outlook: We expect the current trend to persist.
Equities
Today, the Nigerian equity market had a mixed session but closed relatively bullish. The All-Share Index slightly rose by 0.01% to 99,396.23 points. The year-to-date return and market capitalization settled at 32.93% and ₦56.22 trillion, respectively. Market breadth showed a ratio of 2.06x, with 33 advancers and 16 decliners. Despite selling interests on MTNN (-6.89%), the bullish sentiment was supported by SEPLAT (+10.00%).
Trading activity was positive, with a 91.55% increase in total volume and a 154.67% increase in value traded. All sectoral indices closed in the green. The Banking and Consumer Goods Indices appreciated by 1.12% and 0.24%, respectively, while the Industrial and Oil & Gas Indices increased by 0.01% and 5.71%, respectively. GTCO led both the volume and value charts with 66.05 million units and ₦2.93 billion, respectively.
Outlook: We expect the mixed bias to linger.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigeria’s Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) depreciated by ₦2.25 (or 0.15%) to $/₦1,510.10 compared to $/₦1,507.83 recorded yesterday.
Outlook: We expect volatility to persist.
Eurobonds
The SSA Eurobonds market was quiet today, with minimal activity on selected papers. However, the Egypt and South African curve saw more activity, though with multiple selling interests. In other news, the US GDP growth rate for Q1’2024 came in at 1.40%, in line with market expectations. At the close of trading, the Nigerian curve ended on a positive note, with the average mid yield decreasing by 3 bps to 10.06%.
Outlook: Tomorrow, we expect attention to be skewed towards Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the PCE and Core PCE Price Index.
Commodities
Crude oil prices rose today due to Israel-Lebanon tensions despite soft U.S. demand. Brent crude oil prices increased by 0.81% to $85.91, while WTI increased by 0.64% to $81.41. Gold prices also rose by 1.08% to $2,338.20 per ounce at the time of writing.
Outlook: We expect the volatility to persist.
