Goddy Egene
Investors traded N14.94 trillion in the fixed income and currency (FIC) markets in the month of April, according to data released by the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange.
However, treasury bills remained the most traded securities on the platform, accounting for 45.8 per cent of the market turnover. The foreign exchange (FX) market instruments followed, accounting for 36.6 per cent, while money market securities recorded 11.1 per cent. These three) segments collectively contributed 93.6 per cent to the total turnover in the FIC markets in the month under review.
Although the N14.94 trillion traded in April was 4.5 per cent lower than what was invested in March, the turnover showed a year-on-year increase of 69.8 per cent above the N8.8 trillion traded last April.
A further analysis of the turnover in the fixed income market for the month under review indicated that turnover settled at N7.77 trillion, a 15.2 per cent increase from the last month’s performance. Transactions in the treasury bills market accounted for 88.2 per cent of the overall fixed income market, an increase from the 82.8 recorded in March
Outstanding treasury bills at the end of the month stood at N13.6 trillion. Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds outstanding value also increased marginally to close at N8.03 trillion, from N7.89 trillion in the previous month.
Trading intensity in the fixed income market for the month under review settled at 0.51 and 0.12 for treasury bills and FGN bonds, respectively, from 0.42 and 0.15 recorded the previous month respectively.
Transactions in the FX market settled at $16.47 billion in April, a decrease of 11.8 when compared with the $18.67 billion recorded in March.
In the month under review, the Naira depreciated at the Investors’ & Exporters’ (I&E), FX Window closing the month at $/N360.51(from $/N360.20 as at March29, 2018) whilst also trading at a discount to the parallel market which maintained the same rate at the beginning and end of the month at $/N362.00.
Total value traded at the I&E FX Window in April settled at $4.74 billion, a decrease of 21.78 per cent compared with $6.06 billion recorded in March.
Inter-member trades recorded $1.82 billion April, a decrease of 8.71 per cent from $2.0 billion in March, while member-client trades stood at $10.82 billion, a decrease of 1.44 per cent from the previous month’s $10.98 billion.
Member-CBN trades recorded $3.83 billion, representing a decrease of 32.83 per cent from the $5.7 billion recorded in March. However, this showed an increase of 60.02 per cent year-on-year as the effect of the secondary market intervention Sales (SMIS) continued to boost activity in the FX market.
Activities in the secured Money Market (that Repos/Buy-Backs) settled at N1.60 trillion in April, which was 38.8 per cent lower than the N2.62trillion recorded in March.
Unsecured placements/takings closed the month at a turnover of N63.74bn, a 53.11 per cent decrease N135.9 billion the previous month.
