Daily Financial Markets Update

Commentary

System liquidity opened the week with a surplus of ₦6.17 trillion, supported by OMO repayment of ₦2.12trn. The Overnight (O/N) rate declined by 6bps to close at 22.25%, while Open Buy-Back (OBB) rate was unchanged, holding steady at 22.00%.

Commentary

The T-bills market traded on a quiet note today, with activity largely muted across the curve. Benchmark rates were unchanged, except for the 18-Mar-2027 bill, which edged up 10bps to 16.20%. As a result, the average benchmark rate remained flat at 16.11%.

Commentary

The FGN bond market traded on a mildly bearish note today, with selling pressure concentrated at the mid-curve. The 25-Jun-2032 bond led the move, rising by 10bps to 16.45%, while the 15-May-2033 and 21-Feb-2034 bonds each rose by 8bps to 16.69% and 16.52% respectively. The short and long ends remained largely unchanged. The average benchmark yield rose by 1bp, closing at 15.80%.

Commentary

The SSA Eurobond market opened the week on a bullish note despite heightened geopolitical tension, as President Trump's deadline on Iran approached. Sovereign curves tightened broadly across the region as investors looked past near-term risks. Nigeria's yields compressed by 5bps to 7.60%, Angola followed, declining 5bps to 8.84%, while Egypt saw the sharpest adjustment, tightening by 13bps to close at 8.16%.

Commentary

The local bourse opened the week on a positive note, as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) gained 0.16% to settle at 202,023.1 points, while YTD return moderated to 29.82%. Sectoral performance opened the week on a mixed note, reflecting mixed but largely bullish sentiment across key indices. The Banking sector recorded a modest gain of 1.46%, supported by buying interest in GTCO, which advanced by 2.46%. The Consumer Goods sector gained 0.9%, led by a notable 9.53% gain in CADBURY. Similarly, the Oil and Gas sector posted a positive performance, rising by 0.12%, supported by gains in ARADEL, which appreciated by 0.4%. On the downside, the Insurance sector declined sharply by 1.37%, pressured by sell-offs in SUNUASSUR, which fell by 9.68%. The Industrial Goods sector edged lower by 0.31%, weighed down by losses in Cutix, which declined by 2.4%. Market breadth stood at 0.67x with 24 gainers and 36 losers. Market capitalization improved slightly to ₦129.997 trillion from ₦129.806 trillion. Trading activity opened bullish for the week, with turnover value increasing to ₦37.325 billion from ₦19.262 billion and volume traded improved to 1,152 billion units from 559.976 million units.

Commentary

The U.S. market is trading bearish with S&P 500 (-0.75%), Nasdaq (-1.01%), Dow Jones (-0.73%) and Russell (-0.65%) on geopolitical tensions and rising oil prices. European markets traded broadly negative. The STOXX (-0.96%), FTSE (+0.84%), CAC (-0.67%), and DAX (-0.99%), due to rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and expectations of further interest rate hikes hurting investor sentiment. Asian markets opened the week mixed, as the Shanghai Composite Index (+0.26%) and Nikkei 225 (+0.03%) posted modest gains on sectoral strength, while the Hang Seng Index (-0.70%) amid cautious sentiment driven by persistent geopolitical tensions and profit-taking.