The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) hosted a workshop on January 9, 2025, focusing on the rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP and CPI to ensure accurate reflection of the nation’s evolving economic structure. NESG CEO Dr. Tayo Aduloju emphasized that accurate data enhances credibility, attracts investors, and supports effective policymaking by identifying growth and intervention areas. NBS Statistician-General Prince Adeyemi Adeniran highlighted the importance of rebasing to incorporate new industries and consumption patterns, ensuring indicators align with current realities. Experts, including Dr. Olusegun Omisakin and NBS analysts, detailed the technical framework, with 2019 and 2024 chosen as base years for GDP and CPI, respectively. The workshop facilitated feedback, underscoring the importance of collaboration between public and private sectors to strengthen statistical integrity and foster data-driven policies for sustainable growth.
Money Market
Market liquidity opened the day at ₦346.96 billion long. The Open Buy Back (OBB) rate and the Overnight (OVN) rate closed at 27.29% and 27.86%, respectively.
We expect rates to hover around current levels.
Treasury Bills Market
The FGN Treasury Bills Market traded on a mildly active note this week with activity skewed to the Dec and April Maturities. This week featured two auctions. At the OMO auction, the CBN offered and sold N500bn out of a N1.56 trillion subscription. Stop rates closed at 23.81% and 23.84% compared to 23.93% and 23.95% previously. At the NTB auction, the DMO offered and sold N515bn against a total subscription of N1.52 trillion. Stop rates remained unchanged on the 91-day and 182-day at 18.00% and 18.50% while the 364-day bill dipped by 28bps to 22.622%. Sequel to the auction, we saw trades consummated on the newly issued 364-day NTB at 22.00%. Week-on-week, the average benchmark yield declined by 30bps to 25.27%
We expect a similar session.
FGN Bond Market
The FGN Bonds Market witnessed a calm session with offers seen on the 19.89% 2033 bond at 21.00% while there were no bids to match. On the other hand, the 2038 maturity was bid at 19.35% with no offers in sight. Week-on-week, the average benchmark yield appreciated by 8bps to 19.27%
We expect bond appetite to remain weak.
FGN Eurobond Market
The FGN Eurobonds Market traded on mixed sentiments this week. The FGN Eurobonds Market started off on a bullish note. However, as the session came to a close, bearish sentiments ensued following the JOLTS Job Opening data at 8.10M vs 7.74M forecast and 7.74M prev, and ISM Services PMI at 54.1 vs 53.5 forecast and 52.1 prev. The selling pressure further intensified following the ADP Non-farm employment change which printed at 122K vs 140K forecast and 146K previous and the initial jobless claims at 201K vs 215K forecast and 211K previous. Further data from the United States showed the Nonfarm Payroll report at 256K vs 165K forecast and 227K previous while unemployment rate declined to 4.1% from 4.2%. Week-on-week, the average benchmark yield appreciated by 3bps to 9.35%
We expect the bearish sentiments to persist.
Currency Market
The value of the Naira to the dollar declined by 49bps to close at ₦1542.03/$ at the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market
Equities Market
The local bourse ended the day with the benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declining by 8bps to close at 105,451.06. Market capitalization also decreased, closing at ₦64.32 trillion. Market breadth was positive at 1.24x, with 31 advancers and 25 decliners. This performance was driven by gains in CILEASING (+10.00%), HONYFLOUR (+9.99%) and TRANSEXPR (+9.89%), and losses in SUNUASSUR (-10.00%), EUNISELL (-9.96%), and SKYAVN (-9.87%).
Trading activity was robust on the day, with the volume of shares traded increasing by 4.52% to 511.26 million units, while the total value of shares traded decreased by 26.01% to ₦9.67 billion. The most actively traded stocks by volume were TANTALIZER with 52.96 million units, UNIVINSURE with 34.80 million units, and ACCESS with 33.97 million units. In terms of value, NAHCO led with ₦961.87 million, followed by NB at ₦873.28 million, and ZENITH at ₦844.17 million.
Reflecting the day’s performance, the NGX All-Share Index reflected a 1-week gain of 2.20% with an overall year-to-date gain of 2.45%. Other notable indices are the NGX Top 30 Index (-0.07%; +2.38% 1WK; +2.53% YTD), NGX Banking Index (-0.41%; +3.03% 1WK; 3.31% YTD), NGX Oil & Gas Index (-0.08%; -0.83% 1WK; +-0.86% YTD), and NGX Insurance Index (-1.53%; +0.35% 1WK; 9.60% YTD).
