President Bola Tinubu has requested legislative approval for $2.2 billion in external borrowing to partially finance Nigeria’s 2024 budget deficit, alongside the consideration of the 2025-2027 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and amendments to the National Social Investment Programme Agency Act to ensure targeted and transparent welfare benefits. Meanwhile, the Dangote Refinery has begun exporting petrol to neighbouring West African countries, signaling potential shifts in regional fuel markets, while also resuming U.S. crude oil imports after a three-month pause due to challenges in sourcing sufficient crude domestically. The refinery’s growing output and international partnerships underscore its critical role in Nigeria’s energy landscape and regional trade.
Money Market
Market liquidity opened the day at ₦321.54 billion short. The Open Buy Back (OBB) rate and the Overnight (OVN) rate closed at 32.19% and 32.81%, 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 focus on the May and Feb maturities. At the auction this week, the DMO offered N610.80 billion across the standard maturities. Out of a total subscription of N1.18 trillion, the DMO sold N693.04 billion. Stop rates on the 91-day and 182-day bills remained constant at 18.00% and 18.50% respectively while the rate on the 364-day bill rose by 50bps to 23.50%. We saw trades consummated on the 20 Feb, 22 May and 20 Nov bill at 23.70%, 22.10% and 22.95%, respectively. Week on week, the average benchmark yield declined by 11bps to close at 24.24%.
We expect a similar session.
FGN Bond Market
The FGN Bonds Market traded on a quiet note with bearish sentiments. We saw the 29s quoted 21.00/20.70% and the 31s at 22.05/21.95%. The 2033 bond was largely offered at 20.70% while bids were scarce. In addition, trades were consummated on the off the run 29-year bond at 17.10%. Week-on-week, the average benchmark yield appreciated by 3bp to 18.97%
We expect the calm trend to persist.
FGN Eurobond Market
The FGN Eurobonds Market witnessed mixed sentiments this week. Data from the United States, the initial Jobless claims printed at 213K contrary to 220K forecast and 219K previous. Week-on-week, the average benchmark yield appreciated by 4bps to close at 9.50%
We expect investors to adopt a cautious approach.
Currency Market
The value of the Naira to the dollar declined by 2bps compared to the previous week, printing at ₦1652.62/$ to close the week at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market Window (NAFEM).
Equities Market
The local bourse ended the day with the benchmark NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declining by 17bps to close at 97,829.02. Market capitalization also decreased, closing at ₦59.3 trillion. Market breadth was positive at 1.08x, with 27 stocks advancing and 25 declining. This performance was driven by gains in EUNISELL (+9.99%), AUSTINLAZ (+9.92%) and HMCALL (+9.91%), and losses in MECURE (-9.83%), MULTIVERSE (-9.03%), and DAARCOMM (-8.82%).
Trading activity was mixed on the day, with the volume of shares traded decreasing by 21.51% to 366.50 million units, while the total value of shares traded decreased by 36.72% to ₦6.07 billion. The most actively traded stocks by volume were FBNH with 42.41 million units, GUINEAINS with 34.92 million units, and PRESTIGE with 27.08 million units. In terms of value, FBNH led with ₦1.1 billion, followed by UBA at ₦466.74 million, and ARADEL ₦465.87 million.
Reflecting the day’s performance, the NGX All-Share Index reflected a 1-week gain of 0.11% and a 4-week loss of –1.08%, with an overall year-to-date gain of 30.83%. Other notable indices are the NGX Top 30 Index (-0.25%; +0.50% 1WK; +31.97% YTD), NGX Banking Index (-1.14%; -1.89% 1WK; 14.60% YTD), and NGX Oil & Gas Index (+0.33%; +1.50% 1WK; +132.80% YTD).
