Overview

In April Nigerian markets were characterised by a move away from risk as the equity market traded off and Naira-denominated bonds rallied. At the same time, Treasury bill yields rose markedly after the decision of the CBN (in March) to raise the Monetary Policy Rate by 2.0 percentage points to 24.75%. Auctions of T-bills were arranged to keep short-term rates high. Inflation was reported at 33.20%.

In the foreign exchange market, the surge of confidence we had seen in March was reversed and the Naira lost ground to the US dollar. It should be noted that risk-free US dollar government bond rates continued to trade close to 20-year highs during April. The potential for US dollar strength was felt by many emerging market currencies.

READ MORE

Subscribe to Coronation Research