Francis Ogwo
The Naira has remained stable at N386.00 per dollar after trading on Friday with a 48.73% decline of foreign exchange daily turnover to $105.05 million recorded on Friday from $204.90 recorded on Thursday at the Investors and Exporters (I&E) forex window.
Analysts reported that the I&E FX market remained subdued with stable trade volumes due to low system liquidity according to stock analysts at FSDH research.
Most participants maintained bids between N375.00 and N389.75 per dollar.
The foreign exchange market opened on Friday with Naira trading stable at a rate of N386.86k at I&E window.
At the black market, the naira was stable as the dollar traded at N458 on Thursday, maintaining the same rate since last week Tuesday.
At the retail bureau also, the local currency maintained stability at the official market where the dollar was quoted at N460 and N361.00k.
The Nigeria treasury bills on Friday closed on a negative note at the money market, with average yield across the curve increasing by 2bps to close at 2.09%, a report by FSDH research stated.
In the Open Market Operation (OMO) bills market, average yield across the curve increased by 1 basis point to close at 5.16%.
The Overnight (ON) rate increased by 19.90% to close at 23.50%. The Open Buy Back (OBB) rate also increased by 18.70%.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held an Open Market Operation (OMO) auction on July 2, offering and selling bills worth N100 billion across the 89-day (N10 billion), 194-day (N10 billion), and 341-day (N80 billion) tenors. The stop rates remained unchanged at 4.95%, 7.79%, and 8.99%, respectively.
The auction was oversubscribed, indicating a subscription level of 177% (N177.44 billion). Demand was skewed towards long-term maturity bills with bid-to-cover ratios settling at 1.41x (89-day), 1.53x (194-day), and 1.85x (341-day), the report stated.
The FGN bond market closed on a negative note on Friday, as the average bond yield across the curve cleared higher by 1bp to close at 4.74%.
As of March 31, 2020, total public debt stock stood at N28.63 trillion comprising a foreign debt of N9.99 trillion and domestic debt of N18.64 trillion.
It is worth noting that in the first quarter, foreign debt has increased to 34.89% (previously 32.93% as of December 31, 2019), while domestic debt declined to 65.11% (previously 67.07% as of December 31, 2019).
