21 February 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The local and international financial market products and services update.
NIGERIA: Nigeria’s central bank said on Monday it would supply dollars immediately to retail clients through commercial lenders who will resell them at a margin of not more than 20% above the interbank rate of 305 naira per dollar. The central bank plans to boost dollar sales for school fee payments and travel abroad as part of efforts to reduce a 40% premium paid for dollar on the black market, where retail customers buy their hard currency. The bank said it would activate the market’s order-book as soon as possible and accelerate currency matching of the trading platform to ensure transparency.
FX: Naira on the parallel market slid even further today against the dollar dropping 2 big figures by EOD. Offers recorded today against the greenback were at the NGN 519 level.
FIXED INCOME: T-bills market opened this week in the same direction last week closed. Streets were better sellers across the curve so there was a lot of LHS protection. Liquidity opened about 200bn down Causing O/N to spike to 20%. The 24s and 36s were the most active, with 7.9bn and 6.3bn traded volume respectively
FRANCE: The gap between the yield on 10-year French debt and German equivalent bonds exceeded 0.81 percentage points for the first time since August 2012, as a fresh poll showed far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is on course to emerge as a clear winner in the first round vote to be held in late April. Daily trading volumes in French bonds is at its highest since the crisis that gripped the euro zone in 2010-12, as the possibility of Ms Le Pen, whose National Front party has pledged to pull the country from the euro, spooks some investors. Markets are warily eyeing the struggle of Ms Le Pen’s biggest rival, the right-wing Mr Fillon.
US: Donald Trump has picked HR McMaster to be his national security adviser, replacing Michael Flynn, who was ousted just 24 days into the job. Mr Trump called Lieutenant General McMaster “a man of tremendous talent and tremendous experience” after announcing the decision from his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort, the so-called Winter White House. The appointment of Lt Gen McMaster caps the end of a tumultuous week in the White House after the sudden removal of Mr Flynn amid questions over the former general’s ties to Russia and his misrepresentation of phone calls he had with the Russian ambassador before the administration had taken office.
COMMODITIES: Oil prices inched higher on Monday, as investor optimism over the effectiveness of producer cuts encouraged record bets on a sustained rally, although growing U.S. output and stubbornly high stockpiles kept price gains in check. Brent futures LCOc1 ended the session up 0.7% at $56.18 a barrel. U.S. futures West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 gained about 29 cents or 0.5% to $53.69 prior to the close of trade at 1 p.m. EST, an hour and a half early due to the Presidents Day holiday.
Macro Economic Indicators
Inflation rate (Y-o-Y) for December 2016, 18.72%
Monetary Policy Rate current 14.00%
FX Reserves (Bn $) as at Feb 17, 2017, 29,111
Money Market Highlights
NIBOR (%)
O/N 21.4583
30 Day 16.9223
90 Day 19.3717
180 Day 23.1139
LIBOR (%)
USD 1 Month 0.77944
USD 2 Months 0.85333
USD 3 Months 1.05233
USD 6 Months 1.35739
USD 12 Months 1.72400
Benchmark Yields
Tenor Maturity Yield (%)
91d 25-May-17 17.81
182d 17-Aug-17 19.68
364d 01-Feb-18 21.51
2y 29-Jun-19 15.83
3y 13-Feb-20 16.06
5y 27-Jan-22 15.87
Indicative Currency Exchange Rates
Bid Offer
USDNGN 314.50 315.00
EURUSD 1.0622 1.0824
GBPUSD 1.2413 1.2615
USDJPY 113.55 113.58
USDCHF 0.99615 1.0063
GBPEUR 1.1568 1.1772
USDZAR 12.9667 13.1701
JPYNGN 2.6697 2.7703
CHFNGN 308.04 309.73
EURNGN 338.92 340.28
GBPNGN 404.78 406.18