Global Economy –Rundown:
According to the United State Labour Department which revealed that the Consumer Price Index for February increased by 0.4%, as the 12 months CPI through February was 1.7%, and this is the largest increase recorded since February 2020, and the month increased index was propelled by improved prices of gasoline. Based on commodity price increases for the month, the price of gasoline surged by 6.4% and the food prices increased by 0.2%. The Core-CPI saw a slight improvement of 0.1% increase, after two months of static stands, this was driven by the costs of recreation, medical care, and motor vehicle insurance. Although the Inflation expectation remained lukewarm given the lethargic demand being witnessed within the service sector of the economy, while great concern has been expressed as regards the country inflationary direction on the hills of recent expansionary fiscal policy by both additional pandemic relief package of $900 Billion and the soon to be approved rescue package of $1.9Trillion, as these funds have the tendency to steer up inflationary pressure within the economy, as the Fed intensify effort to revive the economy from recession.
Domestic Economy –Rundown:
The country’s aggregate trade for the 2002 fiscal year contracted by 10.3% to N32.421trillion, as the total value of import for the year increased by 17.3% than the previous year value, to N19.898Trillion, and the value of export for the year declined by 34.8% compared to previous year value, to N12.523Trillion, as such the country’s trade deficits for the year settled at N7.375Trillion. The imported commodities for the year saw agricultural imports, raw materials, solid materials, imported manufactured goods, and oil products imported all appreciated on an annual basis, however, the value of energy product imported decline for the period. The country’s Export commodities for the fiscal year saw mixed reaction, from contraction in solid minerals export, manufactured exports, crude oil exports, and other oil products export, to an expansion recorded in agricultural exports and raw materials exports, all on an annual basis. The major import counterparty in ascending order were Denmark 5.40%, Netherlands 7.16%, United States 7.57%, India 8.54%, and China 28.28%, while major trading export counterparty for the year in descending order were India 17.12%, Spain 9.81%, South Africa 8.03%, Netherlands 6.09%, and United States 5.30%.
Currency:
The Naira firmed up marginally by 0.24% at the I&E FX window to settled at N410.00/USD, while at the parallel market, Naira declined to N485.00/USD.
Equities
The equities market maintained its bearish sentiment as the weekly performance indicated a (1.74%) contraction and the YTD ASI growth declined to (4.03%). The weekly average sector performance of the NSE indices declined to 0.04%, which was driven by a 5.75% reduction in the NSE Banking index.
Fixed Income:
The system liquidity at the end of the week decline to N126.27billion, as corresponding open buyback rate and overnight rates closed at 13.3% and 14.2% respectively.
T-Bills secondary market activities was bearish as the average yield appreciated by 106bps to 2.52%, as yield across the medium -long-term bills trended upward. At the T-bills auction for the week yields across the maturity spectrum closed flat, at the previous rate.
The Bond secondary market closed bullish, as the average yield for the week declined by 33bps to 10.24%.
