Author: Marketforces Africa

Treasury Bills Yield Slips 3bps as Investors Seek to Reload The average yield on Nigerian Treasury bills declined by three basis points (bps) in the secondary market after oversubscribed midweek auction conducted by the Central Bank. Investors who lost their bids returned to secondary market with buying interest on the NOV-06 (-91bps) paper at the mid-segment (-12bps) of the curve and the new 364-day bills priced higher at 19.63% at the main auction. Across the curve, the average yield increased at the short (+1bp) end driven by the sell offs of the 91DTM (+14bps) bill, Cordros Capital Limited said in…

Naira: CBN NFEM Rate Falls on FX Liquidity Shortfall The naira exchange rate fell at the Nigeria foreign exchange market official platform of the Central Bank to close at N1608.63 amidst relatively FX intervention slowdown. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) aggressive fx intervention has begun to ease in May as financial market continues to stabilised after riotous sell down in naira assets in the recent past months. Official FX spot rate hit as high as N1614 in the official window and traded low at N1608 per dollar on Thursday. FX liquidity supply in the interbank market—primarily driven by the…

Gabon’s Debt Swap Not Distressed Exchange –Fitch Gabon’s recently concluded local-currency liability management exercise does not constitute a distressed debt exchange, Fitch Ratings says. However, Gabon still faces high foreign- and local-currency liquidity challenges, as reflected in the sovereign’s ‘CCC’ rating. But Moody’s rating thinks otherwise. Moody’s noted that Gabon debt swap improves the country’s liquidity profile but constitute a distress exchange. The Gabonese authorities announced on 28 April that the exchange of local-currency regional market bonds and bills had been concluded. Fitch has determined that the exchange did not constitute an event of default as it only met one…

Bitcoin Tops $100,000 on Fresh Optimism Bitcoin traded above $100,000 for the first time in three months, buoyed by investor optimism after US Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged. According to data from CoinMarketCap.com, BTCUSD is trading at $100,800 level, up by about 4% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum has continued to gaining momentum. In the last 24 hours, ETHUSD, the second largest crypto asset has seen about 13% price appreciation – trading at $2,044 on Thursday. Some crypto analysts linked Bitcoin’s latest bullish action to a potential trade deal between the US and the United Kingdom, which Trump hinted…

Airtel Africa Returns to Profitability, Declares Dividend Airtel Africa Plc earnings rebounded in financial year 2025 after the telecom group underwhelming performance in 2024, details from its audited results revealed. The telecom company revenues declined by 0.5% year on year to settle at $4.955 billion from $4.979 billion in the equivalent period in 2024. Management attributed the decline to currency devaluation which impacted reported revenues. Airtel said strong execution and the tariff adjustments in Nigeria contributed to a further quarter of accelerating growth, with Q4’25 revenue growth of 17.8% in reported currency as currency headwinds eased. For the year ended…

UBA Target Price Raised to N58.28 on Earnings Growth Projection Analysts at Cordros Securities Limited have increased UBA Plc target price to N58.28 per share following the group’s impressive earnings performance in the first quarter of 2025. This suggest a strong upside potential of about 70% at stock market reference price of N34.50 in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX). UBA gross earnings grew by 37.3% in the first quarter of the year, the performance that a slew of analysts adjusted as great start to the year. The group’s hefty top line was driven by strong income from interest yielding assets and…

Otudeko: Court Adjourns to Allow for Continuation of Settlement Talks A Federal High Court in Lagos, on Thursday, adjourned until June 11, for continuation of settlement talks, in a suit against Chairman of the Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko and others. Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke adjourned the case for report of settlement, following information by first defence counsel, Mr Bode Olanipekun (SAN), that parties were still negotiating settlement. Olanipekun had told the court that settlement had not broken down but still on. Recall that at the last adjourned date of March 17, Chief Wole Olanipekun had informed the court that a meeting…

NGX Soars Intraday as Investors Hunt Banking Stocks The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index and market capitalisation soared sharply during the intraday trading session as investors showed significant interest in banking stocks. With significant intraday bets on some banking names, including Ecobank and GTCO, trading activities from the buy-side actors in the equities market pushed the key performance indicators higher amidst a fresh boom in Nigerian stocks. The market saw more than N1 trillion in capital appreciation yesterday, and the current trend has also signaled there will be huge gains on Wednesday. Apart from banking stocks, investors are also taking…

Oil Prices Rise Ahead of US-China Trade Talk Oil prices increased as markets and investors reacted positively to the US and China agreement to talk this weekend about retaliatory tariffs, while forecasts show a decline in US crude inventories. Brent crude increased by around 1.76%, trading at $62.98 per barrel, up from $61.89 at the previous session’s close. The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate declined by about 0.22%, reaching $58.84 per barrel, compared to its prior session close of $58.71. Prices rose following reports that U.S. and Chinese officials will meet this week to discuss tariff-related trade issues while OPEC+…

Nigerian Treasury Bills Yield Falls Ahead of Midweek Auction In the secondary market, the average yield on Nigerian Treasury bills declined to about 21% ahead of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) primary market auction (PMA) on Wednesday. Investors still showed preference for the naira assets amidst spot rates fluctuation and widening real return gap post-disinflation. On Tuesday, The Treasury bills yield curve shifted in the secondary market following an improved demand for the naira assets ahead of the midweek auction. Trading activity tightened, though some interest was noted in the March and April papers, causing a 10 basis point…