19 July 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The local and international financial markets, products and services update.
NIGERIA: Bearish sentiments persisted at the stock market Wednesday, driving the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) further down by lower by 0.58% to 36,748.18.
This was the lowest since November 2017. Selling pressure in banking and insurance stocks were highly instrumental to the negative session recorded at the equities market. Out of the 23 price losers, 13 counters were from the banking and insurance sectors. This development led to a 2% depreciation in the NSE Banking Index.
FX: Yesterday, the market was overall bid, between $/N 361.00 – 362.50, resulting in meek activity in the interbank market. There was an increase in yesterday’s turnover when compared to the previous session. The turnover printed at $211.92mio.
FIXED INCOME: Local demand for bonds was evident for the third consecutive day but mostly bilateral. Interest remains on the long end of the curve with the 2027s recording the highest traded volume of N22bn.
Money market liquidity (unchanged at N260bn) sustained the bullish run in bills.
As expected, yesterday’s bill auction printed unchanged at 10.26%, 11.08% and 12.98% yield for the 91, 182 and 364day respectively.
Street anticipates the OMO auction today given the chunky N419b maturity and naira refunds from the FX auction.
CHINA: China’s Yuan slumped to a one-year low as the central bank showed little sign of intervening to slow the currency’s descent and bets for monetary policy easing mounted.
The Yuan dropped as much as 0.79% to 6.7988 per dollar in offshore trading, the lowest level since July 2017. The People’s Bank of China weakened its fixing beyond 6.7 on Thursday for the first time since the currency began tumbling in June. Signs of further monetary easing are also adding strains, with China Business News reporting policymakers have made efforts to encourage bank loans and investment in lower-rated corporate debt.
U.K: British retail sales rose the most in over a decade in the second quarter despite a drop in spending in June, official data showed on Thursday, giving the Bank of England some reassurance shoppers have largely shaken off a sluggish start to 2018.
Retail sales volumes in June alone were down 0.5% from May – at the low end of economists’ forecasts in a Reuters poll – as the World Cup kept some shoppers out of stores after extremely rapid growth during the previous two months.
COMMODITIES: Oil traded below $69 a barrel as investors tried to gauge demand growth in the world’s biggest economy following conflicting data on U.S. stockpiles.
Futures in New York were little changed Thursday after rebounding 1% in the previous session from a 1.5% drop. Prices have been wavering after government data showed a surprise gain in nationwide crude inventories, while gasoline held in U.S. storage tanks dropped by the most since May on the back of robust fuel demand. Meanwhile, an OPEC committee meeting provided little insight on how output quotas will be split between the group.
Macro Economic Indicators
Inflation rate (Y-o-Y) for May 2018 11.61%
Monetary Policy Rate current 14.00%
FX Reserves (Moving Avg Bn $) as at July 16, 2018, 47,514
Money Market Highlights
NIBOR (%)
O/N 7.5000
30 Day 12.2681
90 Day 12.4898
180 Day 13.7058
LIBOR (%)
USD 1 Month 2.08175
USD 2 Months 2.17313
USD 3 Months 2.34194
USD 6 Months 2.52313
USD 12 Months 1.72400
Benchmark Yields
Tenor Maturity Yield (%)
91d 18-Oct-18 10.47
182d 10-Jan-18 12.58
364d 04-Apr-19 13.49
2y 13-Feb-20 13.52
3y 15-Jul-21 13.59
5y 27-Jan-22 13.69
Indicative Currency Exchange Rates
Bid Offer
USDNGN (I&E) 360.00 362.00
EURUSD 1.1602 1.1804
GBPUSD 1.3164 1.3350
USDJPY 112.42 112.79
GBPEUR 1.1211 1.1437
USDZAR 13.0960 13.4000
EURNGN 420.55 426.30
GBPNGN 473.98 487.50
