FIXED INCOME MARKETS
Money Markets
Opening system liquidity fell to c.₦-176.6 billion compared to yesterday’s opening balance of c.₦ 566.5 billion, due to the FGN bond auction settlement. Consequently, the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) and Overnight Rate (O/N) increased to 16.13% and 16.63% respectively from 10.75% and 11.20% recorded the previous day.
Treasury Bills
The market was somewhat quiet, albeit some occasional cares were observed on selected tenors, especially Feb 8 and June 8 papers. Overall, average yield remained relatively unchanged at 4.10%.
FGN Bonds
Today’s trading session was mixed, with most of the activity skewed to 2028, 2032, 2037, and 2049 maturities. For more perspective, market opened with mild sell interests, while buyers cherry-picked some papers with attractive yield levels. Consequently, average mid-yield declined marginally by 1bp to settle at 13.69%.
Eurobonds
Activity in the Eurobond market continued to reverberate the bearish sentiment from yesterday’s close, against the backdrop of the U.S inflation data which showed a mild slowdown but remain stickier than market expectation. Sell interests were seen across curves in the SSA region and Egypt’s curves, with some cherry-picking on few curves. Average yield slipped by 1bp to 11.93%.
In other news, Ghana’s headline inflation unexpectedly slowed down for the first time in twenty months in Jan’2023, as non-food price growth declined. Contextually, the CPI growth declined from 54.1% Y-o-Y in Dec’22 to 53.6% Y-o-Y. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s headline inflation surprisingly accelerated to 21.82% Y-o-Y compared with 21.3% Y-o-Y in Dec’22.
Equities
The Nigerian domestic bourse closed on a positive note, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) appreciated by c.0.02% day-on-day to close at 54,507.66 points while year-to-date return closed at c.6.35%. Buying activities on pacesetters like GTCO (+0.05%) UBA (+0.05%) and ZENITHBANK (+0.05) drove the bullish theme.
The NGX Industrial Goods Index appreciated in value by c. 0.07%, while the NGX Banking, Oil &Gas and Consumer Good Indices all depreciated in value by c. 0.08%, c. 0.05% and c. 0.06% respectively. SEPLAT led the value charts with c. 1.18 billion units and GTCO led the volume charts with c. ₦42.35 million worth of trades.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Fixing (NAFEX) rate appreciated to ₦461.50/US$1.00 from ₦ 461.67/US$1.00 recorded at the close of the previous day.
Commodities
Oil dropped for a second day on Wednesday, as an industry report pointed to ample supplies in the United States and anticipation of further interest rate hikes sparked concerns over weaker fuel demand and the economic outlook. Brent Crude Oil price decreased by c.0.81% day-on-day to settle at US$84.89pb, while WTI decreased by c.0.99% day-on-day to settle at US$78.28pb as at the time of this report. Spot Gold depreciated by c.1.12% day-on-day to close at US$1,844.50 per ounce as of report time.
