01 February 2017, Sweetcrude, Houston — The local and international financial market products and services update.
NIGERIA: The Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria has said it is committed to maintaining the government-approved price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) at N145 per litre. The Federal Government had in May 2016 increased fuel price from N86 to N145 in a bid to liberalise the oil sector and curb the scarcity of the product in the country. Major oil marketers had argued that the N145 fuel price was not realistic as it did not correspond with the price-determining components of the commodity and the fluctuations of the foreign exchange rate. But after a two-day consultative forum held during the week between the Federal Government and the major oil marketers, MOMAN said it agreed to maintain the oil price at N145 per litre as the Federal Government had resolved to alleviate the current challenges being faced by marketers.
FX: Naira on the parallel market gave back yesterday’s gains as offers for the greenback currently stand at $/NGN 498.
FIXED INCOME: Decent tone with more interest whispered to be from offshore. Lifts seemed skewed to the Jan 2026s and Mar 2036s but the overall long end of the curve adjusted lower. Short-dated bills were better bid despite around N259bn withdrawal of Naira liquidity from the CBN FX sales. 23 mar 17 bills were down 500bps to close at 9.12% yield due to poor liquidity. We expect bill auction prints to remain unchanged tomorrow. O/N closed at 14%.
US: Renewed uncertainty about the outlook for the “Trump trade”, disappointing corporate trading updates and weak US economic data combined to send a wave of risk aversion rippling through global markets. US equities retreated further from last week’s record highs while the dollar sank to a seven-week low, Treasury bond prices rose sharply and gold powered back above $1,200 an ounce. A further headwind for the dollar came from comments by Peter Navarro, Mr Trump’s chief trade adviser, who told the FT that the euro was a “grossly undervalued” tool for Germany to gain an advantage over its trade partners. By midday in New York, the S&P 500 equity index was down 0.5% at 2,269, leaving it 1.4% below a record intraday high reached last week.
IRAN: Iran stopped issuing visas to Americans, the country’s foreign minister said, in a widely anticipated response to President Donald Trump’s 90- day ban on Iranian citizens entering the U.S. Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday said it would take “reciprocal” and “proportionate” action after Mr. Trump issued an executive order barring entry to the U.S. of nationals from Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, as well as Iran. Speaking after a meeting with his visiting French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Mr. Zarif confirmed that Tehran would no longer issue visas to U.S. citizens. He also said exceptions to the ban were possible and specific cases would be reviewed by a foreign-ministry committee.
COMMODITIES: Oil steadied on Wednesday as Russia joined OPEC in cutting production to try to balance the market, although plentiful supply in places such as the United States dragged on prices. Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading at $55.63 per barrel at 0749 GMT (02:49 a.m. ET), up 5 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 rose 5 cents to $52.86 a barrel.
Macro Economic Indicators
Inflation rate (Y-o-Y) for December 2016, 18.55%
Monetary Policy Rate current 14.00%
FX Reserves (Bn $) as at Jan 24, 2017, 28,121
Money Market Highlights
NIBOR (%)
O/N 7.9167
30 Day 17.2816
90 Day 19.2351
180 Day 23.2814
LIBOR (%)
USD 1 Month 0.77833
USD 2 Months 0.84222
USD 3 Months 1.03900
USD 6 Months 1.35878
USD 12 Months 1.72400
Benchmark Yields
Tenor Maturity Yield (%)
91d 04-May-17 13.91
182d 03-Aug-17 18.39
364d 18-Jan-18 22.10
2y 29-Jun-19 16.28
3y 13-Feb-20 16.43
5y 27-Jan-22 16.15
Indicative Currency Exchange Rates
Bid Offer
USDNGN 314.50 315.00
EURUSD 1.0692 1.0894
GBPUSD 1.2476 1.2678
USDJPY 113.44 113.47
USDCHF 0.98465 0.9948
GBPEUR 1.1551 1.1755
USDZAR 13.4151 13.6185
JPYNGN 2.7297 2.8303
CHFNGN 317.70 319.39
EURNGN 338.92 340.28
GBPNGN 404.78 406.18