Author: Marketforces Africa

Yield Declines as Investors Bullish on Nigerian Bonds The average yield on Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds dipped to 20.6% as investors’ sentiment improved in the secondary market. The market recorded moderate buying activity, with the APR 29 (-68 bps) and MAR 35 (-37 bps) witnessing the most interest.  Consequently, average yields contracted by 5 basis points to settle at 20.62%, CardinalStone Limited said, ahead of February monetary policy committee meeting. A slew of analysts are expecting the committee to adjust the benchmark interest rate higher to fight Nigeria’s hot red inflation. Investors have been battling with negative interest…

Interest Rate on 1-Year Treasury Bill Falls, Demand Hits N3.22T The discount rate on Nigerian Treasury bills fell as investors submitted bids worth N3.22 trillion at the primary market auction. At the auction, the Debt Management Office, DMO, on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) offered ₦670 billion across standard maturities. Auction results showed that the 91-day maturity, 182-tenor, and 364-day papers received a total subscription of ₦3.22 trillion. Again, investors showed preference for long-dated, with the 364-Treasury bills subscription accounting for 98% of total subscriptions. The general bid-to-cover came in at 4.80x, according to analysts noted, slightly…

Liquidity: Banks Borrow N1.2trn from Central Bank in 1-Day Nigerian deposit money banks (DMBs) with liquidity deficits made the largest single withdrawal from the Central Bank’s (CBN) Standing Lending Facility (SLF) to fund operations due to a liquidity shortfall in the money market, TrustBanc Financial Group Limited said in a note. The banking system is facing a huge liquidity deficit, which at the last count was N266.55 billion on Thursday, as against N201 billion in excess funds reported midweek. The financial system’s liquidity has been drained as a result of huge outflows relating to the Central Bank of Nigeria auctions.…

Oil prices rose in the global commodity market on Thursday as Saudi Aramco raised its official selling price. Saudi Arabia’s state oil company raised official selling prices for all grades and to all regions for March loadings.

Interbank Rates Rise as FX Swap, Borrowing Suffocate Liquidity Interbank rates rose sharply due to huge outflows relating to FX swaps and activities of local banks in the Central Bank standing lending facility. Demand for funding increased as banks raised bets on Nigerian Treasury bills amidst exiting funding obligations for settlement of FX swaps. According to information from the FMDQ, the open repo and overnight lending rates increased by 350 bps and 342 bps to 31.50% and 32.00%, respectively, in the absence of sufficient liquidity to counter the huge outflow. In a note, investment banking firm CardinalStone Limited said the…

NGX Market Cap Surpasses N65trn as FBNH, ETERNA, CADBURY Rally Equities investors gained more than N332 billion on stocks traded in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) as demand for FBN Holdings, ETERNA, and Cadbury Nigeria stocks jumped, pushing the total value of all listed stocks above N65 trillion. Key performance indicators advanced by 0.51%, or 51 basis points, as trading activities closed on a positive note in the equities market. The upsurge recorded midweek was driven by bargain hunting in some medium- and large-cap stocks such as ETERNA, CADBURY, and FBNH. The market index, or All-Share Index, rose by 536.54 basis…

Kenya Central Bank Cuts Lending Rate to 10.75% The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) cut its benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 10.75%, the monetary policy committee led by Governor Kamau Thugge said in an emailed statement. This is the fourth rate cut amidst a plan to drive economic growth amidst an inflation slowdown. The decision was made within a context of a recovering global growth outlook, projected to improve to 3.3 percent in 2025 from 3.2 percent in 2024, and a moderated global inflation rate. The MPC’s measures also follow the introduction of core and non-core inflation…

Tinubu Writes Senate, Raises 2025 Budget to N54.2 Trillion President Bola Tinubu has notified the Senate of an increase in the proposed 2025 budgetary estimates from the N49.7 trillion he presented on Dec. 18, 2024 to N54.2 trillion. Tinubu announced the increase via a letter forwarded to both chambers of the National Assembly, which was read at plenary on Wednesday by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. Tinubu, in the letter, said that the increase arose from the N1.4 trillion additional revenues made by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), N1.2 trillion generated by Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and N1.8 trillion made by…

Afreximbank Tasks Africa’s Miners on Continent’s Resources Ownership Africa must take bold steps to own its resources, create jobs and build industries that sustain prosperity for generations, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) has told African leaders, policymakers, mining industry leaders, and global partners at the African Mining Indaba 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa, on Sunday. In a keynote address at the ministerial symposium of the Indaba, Mr. Denys Denya, Senior Executive Vice President of the Afreximbank Group, argued that the continent was standing at a crossroads and could either continue exporting its wealth and remain a marginal player in the…

Oando Rises as Board Sets to Issue Dividend Stock Oando Plc’s market value increased slightly on Wednesday as investors reacted positively to its stock dividend notice on the Nigerian Exchange. The energy company share price rose by more than 2% to N70, according to data from the local bourse, with more than 15 million shares valued at N1.112 billion traded in the market. The share price was volatile on the day, reaching N74.7 before it retreated in the equities market to N70 over mixed reactions. The moderate daily gain lifted Oando Plc’s market value to N870 billion, details from the…