FIXED INCOME MARKETS
Money Markets
The Interbank market remained buoyant, as system liquidity opened c.₦ 1.06 trillion, compared to yesterday’s opening balance of c.₦ 886.11 billion. Nevertheless, the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) and Overnight Rate (O/N) rose to 10.50% and 10.83% respectively from 9.83% and 10.17% recorded the previous day.
Treasury Bills
The NTB market endured a muted theme as focus was largely on the NTB auction, albeit few demand were witnessed on the long end amid ample system liquidity. Overall, the average mid-rate stayed relatively unchanged at 3.71%.
Bonds
The FGN bond market was mixed to bullish, supported by buoyant system liquidity. Most of the demand was skewed to the short end of the curve (especially on the 2024, 2025 and 2027 papers),while sideways interest was recorded on 2037 and 2049 securities. Thus, the average mid-yield closed c.4bps lower at 14.08%.
Eurobonds
It was a mixed theme in the Eurobond space with demand recorded across Nigeria and Angola papers, while lower prices were traded across Ghana and Egypt. The markets await U.S. Q4 GDP data release tomorrow and data on income and spending by Friday. Overall, the average yield across the Nigerian sovereign curve closed at 10.55%.
Equities
The Nigerian equities market remained bearish, driven by selling activities on GEREGU (- 5.90%), ACCESSCORP (-0.55%), TRANSCORP (-0.81%) and MTNN (-0.43%). The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) dipped by c.0.02% day-on-day to close at 52,599.65 points while market year-to-date return closed lower at c.2.63%.
The NGX Consumer Goods rose by c.0.34%, the NGX Banking Index declined by c.0.34% while the NGX Industrial and Oil & Gas Index both remained unchanged from the previous day. MBENEFIT led the volume with c.11.26 million while GEREGU led the value charts c.₦ 1.14 billion worth of trades respectively.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) rate depreciated to ₦ 461.70/US$1.00 from ₦ 461.00/US$1.00 recorded the previous day.
Commodities
Oil steadied today after a decline in the previous session, as a rise in U.S. crude inventories and global recession worries countered optimism for a demand recovery in China.. Brent Crude Oil price lost c.0.49% day-on-day to settle at US$85.71pb, while WTI lost c.0.36% day-on-day to settle at US$79.84b as at the time of this report. Spot Gold lost c.0.11% day-on-day to close at US$1,933.30 per ounce as of report time.
