By Goddy Egene
The fixed income and currency markets operated by FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange have recorded transactions worth N78.90 trillion between January and July.  Trading statistics obtained by THISDAY, however, showed a decline of 8.6 per cent in the month of July. Investors traded N11.53 trillion in July, down from N12.62 trillion recorded in June.  But in all, the market has facilitated N78.90 trillion investments in seven months.
 An analysis of the transactions in July indicates that the fixed income market, dominated by the Treasury Bills (T.bills) segment continued to dominate market share. It accounted for 43.6 per cent while activities in the Foreign Exchange (FX) market accounted for 22.01 per cent Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds recorded 4.53 per cent.
Turnover in the fixed income market in the month under review settled at N5.60 trillion, with T.bills accounting for 90.58 per cent.  Outstanding T.bills at the end of the month stood at N9.06 trillion, an increase of 6.38 per cent from N8.51 trillion in June, whilst FGN bonds’ outstanding value increased by 1.22 per cent to close at N7.12 trillion  in the period under review.
Transactions in the FX market settled at $7.71 billion in July, a decrease of 4.9 per cent when compared with the value recorded in June.  The CBN sold a total of $1.17 billion through various interventions conducted during the period under review, a 32.2 per cent decrease from the figure recorded in June. The apex bank also maintained its marginal rate for the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS) – Wholesale Forwards intervention at $/N320.00 and $/N357.00 for Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and invisibles.
Also, in the month under review, rates for the naira converged even further, as the parallel market closed the month at $/N365.00 trading at a premium to the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E) FX Window which closed at $/N367.88. The CBN official spot rate experienced a slight appreciation, gaining N0.30 to close at $/N305.65 from $/N305.95 at the beginning of the month
Total volumes traded in the I&E FX Window settled at $1.85 billion for July, an increase of 13.80 per cent when compared with volumes recorded in June.
 Inter-member trades stood at $0.98 billion in the month of July, an increase of 3.0 per cent when compared with trades recorded in June. Member-client trades stood at $5.56 billion in July, a decrease of 4.91 per cent from the previous month. Member-CBN trades stood at $1.17 billion in July, representing a decrease of 32.21 per cent.
Apart from facilitating currency trading, the market is also making efforts to facilitate the development of sustainable finance strategy. According to the Managing Director/CEO of FMDQ, Mr. Bola Onadele.Koko  the exchange was working hard, in collaboration with other key stakeholders in that regard.
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