Naira depreciates by 0.7% to close to N1,621.12/$
The naira on Tuesday depreciated by 0.7per cent to N1,621.12 against the dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), according to a report by FMDQ Exchange.
The overnight lending rate contracted by 16basis points to 25.9per cent in the absence of any significant inflows into the system.
Sentiments in the NTB secondary market remained bullish, as the average yield contracted by 3bps to 25.2per cent.
Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-1bp) and long (-10bps) ends, following demand for the 86DTM (-1bp) and 191DTM (-46bps) bills, respectively.
Conversely, the average yield expanded at the mid (+8bps) segment, driven by sell pressures on the 177DTM (+56bps) bill. Elsewhere, the average yield increased by 2bps to 24.9% in the OMO segment.
Meanwhile, the FGN bond secondary market traded on a bearish note, as the average yield rose by 3bps to 19.4%. Across the benchmark curve, the average yield advanced at the short (+8bps) and long (+1bp) ends, as investors took profits off the MAR-2025 (+38bps) and MAR-2050 (+11bps) bonds, respectively. The average yield closed flat at the mid-segment.
Meanwhile, the domestic stock market continued its descent as investors sold off Nestle Nigeria (-9.8per cent) and UBA (-5.3per cent), causing a 0.3per cent decline in the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) to 97,830.65 basis points.
As a result, the NGX ASI Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date performance stood at -2.2per cent and +30.8per cent, respectively.
The total trading volume increased by 5.3per cent to 399.39 million units, valued at N8.00 billion, and exchanged in 10,447 deals. Zenith Bank was the most traded stock by volume and value, at 44.24 million units and N1.51 billion, respectively.
