FIXED INCOME MARKETS
Money Market
System liquidity worsened today, with opening balance at -₦204.89 billion, compared to yesterday’s -₦97.71 billion. Consequently, the Open Repo Rate (OPR) increased by 90bps to 23.83% and the Overnight Rate (O/N) expanded by 134bps to 25.17%.
Outlook: We expect the interbank rates to remain elevated.
Treasury Bills
The treasury bills market exhibited a quiet session today, with market participants directing their focus towards the NTB auction. While mild activity was observed on a few papers, particularly around the long end of the curve, the overall muted theme led to an unchanged average mid-rate at 10.99%.
Outlook: We expect market sentiment to be bullish, as investors look to fill their unmet demands.
FGN Bonds
The FGN bonds market experienced a mixed to bearish theme, characterized by a generally quiet tone and weak traded volumes, notably in papers such as the 2028, 2034, 2050, and 2053 maturities. As a result, the average mid-yield saw a marginal increase of c.5bps, settling at 16.30%.
Outlook: We expect the mixed sentiment to linger tomorrow.
Eurobonds
The Eurobonds market sustained a bullish bias with more buyside activity recorded across the SSA and North African papers, amid the less hawkish tone in the Fed minutes released yesterday. Consequently, the Nigeria’s curve decreased in the average mid-yield by c.9bps to 10.59%.
Outlook: We expect market activity to be calm tomorrow, due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.
Equities
The Nigerian equity market concluded the day on a bearish note, driven by selling pressures in FBNH (-4.00%), WAPCO (-1.34%), and MTNN (-0.63%). The All-Share Index (ASI) experienced a 0.09% depreciation, settling at 71,003.98 points, leading to a year-to-date return of 38.54%. Market activity exhibited a mixed trend, with a 12.81% decline in total volume traded and a substantial 128.85% increase in total value traded.
The Industrial and Consumer Goods Indices depreciated by 0.08% and 0.19%, respectively, while the Banking Index appreciated by 0.19%. VERITASKAP led the total volume charts with 62.08 million units while MTNN led in total value with ₦2.81 billion.
Outlook: We expect market to remain mixed.
Foreign Exchange
FMDQ’s Nigeria’s Autonomous Foreign Exchange (NAFEM) depreciated by 1.14% (or ₦9.56) to $/₦840.53 from $/₦830.97 recorded yesterday.
Outlook: We expect the volatility to persist.
Commodities
US Oil fell today, reversing steep gains made in the past two sessions, as investors turned cautious ahead of a meeting of OPEC+ this Sunday when the producer group may discuss deepening supply cuts due to slowing global growth. Brent crude oil prices depreciated by 0.47% to $81.93 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 0.48%, to US$77.45 per barrel at the time of the report. In contrast, Gold prices increased following weaker Dollar, adding 1.17% to US$2,003.20 per ounce.
Outlook: We expect oil prices to remain elevated in the interim.
