24 November 2015, Sweetcrude, Houston – Local and international financial market products and services update.
NIGERIA: President Muhammadu Buhari has assured the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) of his government’s continuous support for the global gas supply chain. The President stated this at the third Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the GECF member countries in Tehran, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Buhari stated that trying times call for more cooperation and coordination among member countries, while thanking President Hassan Rouhani of Iran for the invitation to discuss issues affecting the GECF and reaffirm commitment to the objectives of the forum. Speaking at the 17th Ministerial Meeting of the GECF at the weekend, in Tehran, the GECF President and Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, identified market volatility, increasing competition, price war and escalating cost of infrastructure development as the key challenges facing the gas industry in general and the GECF in particular.
FX: The CB maintained the Special auction rate at 197.00 yesterday.
FIXED INCOME: Market closed relatively quiet yesterday, following the early rally in both the T-Bill and Bonds market. Streets were eager to put on more risk following the selloff last week. Activities were mainly within the local market, with limited offshore activities. Market expects MPC to do some form of easing, which is a reason for the rally on Monday. T-Bill yields dropped by 46bps to close at an average of 4.04% and Bond dropped by 107bps to close at an average of 10.86%. Money Market liquidity is just over N300bn and O/N still at 1%.
COMMODITIES: Oil gained amid a reiteration by Saudi Arabia that the world’s biggest exporter is committed to working with OPEC members and other producers to stabilize the crude market. Brent for January settlement rose as much as 59 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $45.42 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
CHINA: The yuan traded near a 12-week low on signs China will prevent big swings in the currency before the International Monetary Fund makes a final decision on whether to grant it reserve status. IMF staff recommended earlier this month that the yuan be added to its Special Drawing Rights basket, alongside the dollar, euro, yen and pound. The Washington-based lender’s executive board will vote on the inclusion on Nov. 30 and approval is seen as all but certain as the fund’s major shareholders including the U.S. have said they’ll support it. The yuan was little changed at 6.3886 a dollar as of 9:59 a.m. in Shanghai, China Foreign Exchange Trade System prices show.
EUROPE: Greece unlocked more of its rescue funds on Monday as the euro area called on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to maintain his nation’s commitment to meeting its bailout requirements. In the first aid payment since August, when Greece secured an 86 billion-euro ($91 billion) third bailout, the euro area on Monday approved a 2 billion-euro disbursement from the European Stability Mechanism firewall fund. This allows Greece to turn its attention to recapitalizing its banks and releasing another 1 billion euros in rescue funds before the end of the year.
Macro Economic Indicators
Inflation rate (Y-o-Y) for October. 2015 9.30%
Monetary Policy Rate current 13.00%
FX Reserves (Bn $) as at November 20, 2015 30.256
Money Market Highlights
NIBOR (%)
O/N 1.0850
30 Day 11.8548
90 Day 13.5614
180 Day 15.4500
LIBOR (%)
USD 1 Month 0.2210
USD 2 Months 0.3030
USD 3 Months 0.3932
USD 6 Months 0.6331
USD 12 Months 0.9613
Benchmak Yields
Tenor Maturity Yield (%)
91d 18-Feb-16 2.61
182d 26-May-16 5.25
364d 20-Oct-16 6.46
2y 27-Apr-17 9.01
3y 29-Jun-19 10.91
5y 13-Feb-20 11.38
Indicative Currency Exchange Rates
Bid Offer
USDNGN 197.50 199.50
EURUSD 1.0552 1.0754
GBPUSD 1.5022 1.5224
USDJPY 122.57 122.60
USDCHF 1.01265 1.0228
GBPEUR 1.4094 1.4298
USDZAR 14.0206 14.2240