14 March 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — the local and international financial market products and services update.
NIGERIA: Inflation rate decreased from 18.7% in January to 17.80%. Prices rose 1.5% in the month and was forecast at 17.2%, according to reports.
FX: Spot market traded within the range of $/NGN 305.50 – 315.
FIXED INCOME: Activity of the week started on a sluggish note, there wasn’t a lot of price action on either T-bill or bond. CBN floated 03/08/17 and 25/01/18 OMO bills but there was no sale. At the close of the day there were better sellers in both markets because of liquidity tightness. Money Market liquidity was down about 55bn, but Overnight traded at 15%. There’s an OMO bill maturity of 126bn on Thursday – this should help stabilise liquidity. The T-bill and Bond auctions this week will be a key driver; the outcome is very much anticipated by market players.
U.S: The Bureau of Labor Statistics just announced the U.S. economy created 235,000 jobs in February, slightly higher than most experts expected and much higher than President Barack Obama’s 187,000 average in 2016. But while the unemployment rate remained at a low 4.7 percent, the labour force participation rate, which measures the number of people leaving the workforce entirely, was also low, at a discouraging 63 percent. This shows that many people are still not finding job opportunities abundant enough to encourage them to seek work. Also of concern is that 24 percent of those unemployed continue to spend 27 weeks or more on unemployment. While this number has dropped in recent months, it still communicates a weak recovery from the 2008-2009 recession.
U.K: The pound tumbled against all of its Group-of-10 peers as London traders sold the currency after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May was given the go-ahead to trigger Brexit. Sterling had a delayed reaction to the news, which came out late Monday in London and gives May the chance to formally kick off negotiations with the European Union. Market participants were reluctant to sell the currency during Tokyo trading hours and was quiet before the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, according to reports. The selloff comes a day after Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon signalled the start of a legal process for an independence referendum. Sterling fell as much as 0.9 percent to $1.2110 on Tuesday, its lowest since Jan. 17, the day May outlined her Brexit plans which will prioritise regaining control of laws and immigration at the cost of losing access to the single market.
COMMODITIES: Oil held losses below $49 a barrel before U.S. government data forecast to show record crude inventories expanded further. Brent for May settlement was 2 cents higher at $51.37 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
Macro Economic Indicators
Inflation rate (Y-o-Y) for February 2017, 17.80%
Monetary Policy Rate current 14.00%
FX Reserves (Bn $) as at Mar 10, 2017, 30.079
Money Market Highlights
NIBOR (%)
O/N 15.1667
30 Day 17.0197
90 Day 20.1528
180 Day 23.1761
LIBOR (%)
USD 1 Month 0.89056
USD 2 Months 0.95833
USD 3 Months 1.12122
USD 6 Months 1.42600
USD 12 Months 1.72400
Bench Yields
Tenor Maturity Yield (%)
91d 15-Jun-17 16.86
182d 14-Sep-17 19.70
364d 01-Mar-18 22.16
2y 29-Jun-19 15.76
3y 13-Feb-20 16.03
5y 15-Jul-21 16.19
Indicative Currency Exchange Rates
Bid Offer
USDNGN 314.50 315.00
EURUSD 1.0543 1.0745
GBPUSD 1.2038 1.2240
USDJPY 115.12 115.15
USDCHF 1.00245 1.0126
GBPEUR 1.1302 1.1506
USDZAR 13.0963 13.2997
JPYNGN 2.6797 2.7803
CHFNGN 311.36 313.04
EURNGN 334.14 335.50
GBPNGN 381.14 382.53