Nigeria’s fixed income, currency markets dip 24 percent in a month

Turnover in Nigeria’s Fixed Income and Currency (FIC) markets for the month ended July 31, 2018 dropped by 24 percent or N4.13 trillion to N13.09 trillion from the value recorded in June, the FMDQ OTC securities exchange said Tuesday.

According to the monthly report made available to business a.m., total transactions however increased by 13.53 percent or by N1.56 trillion when analysed on a year on year (y-o-y) basis.

“Month on Month (m-o-m) turnover largely declined across all segments of the FIC market in July, excluding the repurchase agreement/buy-backs, which recorded a 5.22 percent (N0.12trn) m-o-m increase.”

The FMDQ explained that the Treasury bills (T-bills) and foreign exchange (FX) segments remained the major drivers of turnover in the FIC market, noting that both segments jointly accounted for 74.26 percent of total turnover in the FIC market in July, albeit a decline of 5.09 percentage points from the 79.35 percent recorded in June.

The total value of transactions in the FX market settled at $12.61 billion in July, a decline of 36.31 percent ($7.19bn) when compared with the value recorded in June ($19.80bn).

Liquidity flows at the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) FX Window in July was $3.39 billion, representing a 13.74 percent ($0.54bn) MoM decline from the value recorded in June ($3.93bn).

So far, the total volume traded at the Window Year-to-Date stands at $33.67 billion.

Exchange rate for the Naira depreciated at the I&E FX Window, losing N1.08 to close at $/N362.40 in July, from $/N361.22 as at June 29, 2018 whilst also trading at a premium to the parallel market, where rates closed the reporting month at $/N360 from 362 as at June 29, 2018.