21 September, 2011, Sweetcrude, Lagos- International News
. EURO – The Euro slid sharply yesterday, moving closer to a seven month low after Standard and Poor’s cut its debt rating on Italy and as sources said two Chinese state banks had stopped trading currency swaps with some European lenders.
. CHF: The Swiss Franc tracked the euro lower against the dollar after ratings agency S&P downgraded Italy, putting spotlight back on the euro zone’s problem debtors and piling renewed pressure on the single currency
. ZAR: The South Africa’s rand hit fresh 14-month lows against the dollar with technical factors pointing to further losses for the currency which is already seen as the worst performer among emerging market currencies.
Nigeria News
· Bonds – slight rise in yields in early trading on yesterday, but the market resisted any upward adjustment in yields and bought 3yr quite aggressively leading to the security closing below yesterday’s closing levels. Activity was scattered and expectation is that this will continue as the market will struggle to find stable levels over the next few days on the back of the rise in MPR
· Bills – Very patchy trading across all the bill maturities as the market also grapples with the increase in the MPR. The bill auction of 91 & 182 day bills comes up today (Tuesday) and we will likely see the auction well bid. However we might not see a significant rise in the cut off
· Money Market – In reaction to the 50bps increase in MPR, OBB closed at 11.25% while unsecured O/N rates rose to 12.00%. Liquidity continues to remain thin as the market is still short.
· Interbank/WDAS –
Fx
Hi Low Close Prev.Close
UDS/NGN 157.22/32 156.70/80 157.10/20 156.70/80
