12 March 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The local and international financial market products and services update.
NIGERIA: The U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Rex Tillerson, will arrive in Abuja on Monday (today) for his first official visit to Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that a Press Advisory from the U.S. Embassy said Tillerson would hold talks with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday. “When he arrives, Tillerson will become the highest ranking official in the Trump administration to visit Nigeria.
”The secretary is expected to hold a press conference at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday by 11.45am. “Tillerson is expected to be joined in the press conference by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama,” the embassy stated.
FX: Lacklustre activity last week in the I&E window, the week recorded a very weak turnover which stood at $741.21m, compared to previous week. Naira remains stable in the $/N 359 – 361.50 despite the market demand for FX for a large corporate to make dividend payments.
FIXED INCOME: Mostly sideways trading in bonds last week in the absence of new information. Sellers of the 2026s and 2034s keeping those cheaper than their comparables.
Other than that, it has been mostly quiet in bonds. Focus this week will be on the anticipated Q2 bill auction calendar as there will be an auction on Wednesday. Whispers however indicate a good chunk of the repayments will be in the 1yr bucket.
U.S: Some consumer prices that skyrocketed in January probably returned to Earth in February, indicating fears of runaway U.S. inflation that jarred financial markets were overblown.
The consumer price index probably rose 0.2% in February from the previous month, after a 0.5% jump in January, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of Labor Department figures due Tuesday. Excluding food and energy, prices were projected to advance 0.2% following a bigger-than-forecast 0.3% increase in January.
U.K: London house prices are falling at the fastest pace since the depths of the recession almost a decade ago, with the capital’s most expensive areas seeing the biggest declines.
Average prices fell to 593,396 pounds ($820,000) in January, an annual decline of 2.6% that’s the biggest since August 2009, according to a report published by Acadata on Monday. London’s highest-priced boroughs were the biggest losers, led by Wandsworth’s 14.9% slump and a drop of 12.2% in Southwark.
London prices fell 0.8% in January alone, equivalent to almost 5,000 pounds, showing the weakness that was present for much of last year continued into 2018. The market has been hurt by slosignaledh and faster inflation since the Brexit vote, while the Bank of England has signalled it needs to continue raising interest rates.
COMMODITIES: Oil risks sliding back under $60 a barrel as a surge in U.S. shipments to Asia threatens to undermine a deal between OPEC and its allies, according to ING Groep NV.
While the producer group complied with a pledge to curb output and ease a glut in 2017, U.S. flows that are gaining a bigger slice of the prized Asian market may prompt some nations to boost supplies, said Warren Patterson, a commodities strategist at the Dutch bank. The resulting fallout could drag down crude prices after a rally of more than 40% since June, he said.
Macro Economic Indicators
Inflation rate (Y-o-Y) for January 2017 15.13%
Monetary Policy Rate current 14.00%
FX Reserves (Moving Avg Bn $) as at March 08, 2018, 43,618
Money Market Highlights
NIBOR (%)
O/N 8.6875
30 Day 16.0505
90 Day 17.0718
180 Day 18.5682
LIBOR (%)
USD 1 Month 1.70170
USD 2 Months 1.83064
USD 3 Months 2.01719
USD 6 Months 2.22375
USD 12 Months 1.72400
Benchmark Yields
Tenor Maturity Yield (%)
91d 07-Jun-18 14.68
182d 06-Sep-18 15.34
364d 14-Feb-19 15.59
2y 13-Feb-20 13.66
3y 15-Jul-21 13.86
5y 27-Jan-22 13.74
Indicative Currency Exchange Rates
Bid Offer
USDNGN (I&E) 359.00 360.00
EURUSD 1.2210 1.2413
GBPUSD 1.3756 1.3958
USDJPY 106.53 106.56
GBPEUR 1.1153 1.1357
USDZAR 11.7349 12.9384
EURNGN 442.50 443.91
GBPNGN 498.25 499.65
