Culled—Proshare
May 14, 2018/Zedcrest Capital
***World Bank unveils fresh N2.7 trillion investment strategy in Nigeria for 2019***
Bonds
The bond market opened the week on a relatively calm note, as it eased off slightly from the selling pressures witnessed in the previous week. Yields consequently declined by c.8bps on average, with most trades done on the 2021 and 2034 bonds. We expect yields to compress slightly in the near term, as market players anticipate a further decline in inflation in the CPI report to be published Thursday.
Treasury Bills
The selling pressures in the T-bills space also moderated slightly, as some local and offshore investors began cherry-picking on some of the higher yielding bills, consequently absorbing most of the sell off from the local banks who were looking to generate more liquidity for funding of their wholesale FX bids and trade positions. We expect yields to decline further ahead of the next OMO T-bill maturity, as they are relatively attractive at current levels, with most of the bills being offered at c.60 – 90bps above the last OMO rate.
Money Market
The OBB and OVN rates spiked to a 1-yr high of 150% and 164.17%, as system liquidity which opened at c.N2bn short was further compressed by an FX intervention by the CBN ($210m) for wholesale, SME and Invisible transactions. We expect rates to moderate slightly tomorrow, as there are no significant outflows expected from the system.
FX Market
The Interbank rate remained stable at its previous rate of N305.80/$, even as the CBN intervened in the market with a total sale of $210m. The NAFEX closing rate depreciated sharply by 0.14% to a YTD high of N361.57/$. Rates in the Unofficial market also depreciated by 0.06% to N361.70/$.
Eurobonds:
The NGERIA Sovereigns remained slightly bullish, with yields compressing by c.2bps across the curve. We witnessed most trades on the 2027s and 2038s which gained +0.30pt on average.
The NGERIA Corps were also bullish with interests mostly on the longer dated tickers. The UBANL 22s, FIDBAN 22s and SEPLLN 23s were the highest gainers as their yields declined by c.10bps on average, with average price gains of +0.40pt.
