FIXED INCOME MARKETS
Money Markets
System liquidity opened the week significantly lower at c.₦71.64 billion, compared to last week Friday’s opening balance of c.₦ 492.50 billion, due to CRR debits. Nevertheless, the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) and Overnight Rate (O/N) declined slightly to 10.67% and 11.17% respectively vs 11.00% and 11.50% recorded at the close of the previous week.
Treasury Bills
The NTB market witnessed a quiet theme, albeit few demands were recorded on April 2023, June 2023 and Jan 2024 Bills at 2.80%, 3.10% and 4.60% levels respectively. Thus, the average mid-rate closed c.5bps lower at 3.79%.
Bonds
The FGN bonds market traded mixed to bearish, with sideways interest recorded across 2024s, 2026s, 2027s, 2037s, 2049s and 2050s. Overall, the average mid-yield closed c.10bps higher at 14.09%.
Eurobonds
The Eurobond market recorded a mixed to bullish theme, with demand recorded across Nigeria, Angola and Egypt securities, while Ghana dollar bonds rose after S&P Global Ratings declared a default on its 2026 note. Overall, the average yield across the Nigerian sovereign curve closed at 10.13%.
In other news, Angola central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 18% from 19.5%, while Ghana proposed a 5% Coupon in 2023 for Local debt exchange.
Equities
The domestic bourse opened the week with a bullish bias, as buying interest on GEREGU (+6.92%), GUINNESS (+4.91%) and GTCO (+0.21%) drove the index up. The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) rose by c.0.12% day-on-day to close at 52,657.69 points while market year-to-date return extended to c.2.74%.
The NGX Banking, Consumer Goods & Oil & Gas Indices all rose by c.0.12%, 0.12% and 0.03% respectively, while the Industrial Index remained unchanged from the previous week. FBNH led the volume charts with c.19.66 million units while MTNN led the value charts c.₦ 326.85 million worth of trades.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) rate depreciated slightly to ₦ 461.63/US$1.00 from ₦ 461.50/US$1.00 recorded on Friday.
Commodities
Oil prices rose by 1% to $88.50 a barrel, extending last week’s gains on the back of a stronger outlook thanks to an expected economic recovery in top oil importer China this year. Brent Crude Oil price gained c.0.80% day-on-day to settle at US$88.38pb, while WTI gained c.0.31% day-on-day to settle at US$81.89b as at the time of this report. Spot Gold lost c.0.65% day-on-day to close at US$1,916.30 per ounce as of report time.
