Naira weakens in I&E window to N360.17

..As NGN152.93bn OMO bills mature Thursday

The pressure on the Nigerian naira was sustained on Wednesday , as the import and export window of the foreign exchange market weakened b 0.8 per cent.

The USD/NGN rate weakened by 0.08 per cent to NGN360.17 in the I&E FX window, while it remained flat at NGN362 in the parallel market.

However, total turnover in the I&E FX window improved by 48.11 per cent to USD199.36 million, traded within the range of NGN330 to NGN364.50 band.

Meanwhile, the apex bank injected USD210 million into the FX market on Tuesday march 06,2018 , comprising USD100 million, USD55 million, and USD55 million disbursements to the wholesale, SMEs, and invisibles windows, respectively.

Transaction in the fixed income and money market showed that the overnight lending rate dropped by 92 bps to 12.50 per cent on Wednesday , following developments, including, an increase in market liquidity levels which rose by 6% to NGN166.60 billion, and anticipation of Thursday’s inflow via maturing OMO bills worth NGN152.93 billion.

Proceedings remained bullish in the Nigerian Treasury Bill (NTB) market, due to relative improvement in system liquidity. Average yield contracted by 4 bps to 14.99 per cent, with yields closing lower at the short +3 bps and mid -9 bps ends of the curve, but flat at the long segment.

Notable bills include the 85DTM lessened by -32 bps) and 92DTM by -37 bps.

Equally, investors were modest in the bond market, with average yield expanding by 3 bps to 13.70%. Yields expanded at the short end by 3 bps and midterm by 6 bps. For the long term it closed flat. Notable bonds include the JAN-2022 with +16 bps and JUL-2030 with +7 bps , respectively.

Stories by Bonny Amadi