Investors in the Fixed Income and Currency markets defied the Covid-19 pandemic in March as they raised their stakes by N2.19trillion or 9.33 per cent to N25.66trillion. Investment in foreign exchange and OMO bills accounted for about 75 per cent of total turnover recorded in the markets in the review period with FX accounting for almost 50 per cent of gross turnover. Bamidele Famoofo reports
Total FX market turnover in March 2020 was $28.92billion , representing a MoM increase of 6.64 percent from the turnover recorded in February 2020 . The total notional amount of open OTC FX Futures contracts as at March 31, 2020 stood at c.$14.53billion, representing a $3.66billion increase on the value of open contracts as at February 28, 2020 , while the total notional amount of OTC FX Futures contracts matured and settled to-date stands at $43.36billion.
In March 2020, bills within the 6 months – 12months maturity bucket remained the most traded across all tenors on the sovereign yield curve, accounting for 62.72 per cent of the total fixed income market turnover. FGN Bonds within the 20 year – 30year maturity bracket were the most traded among the medium to long-term securities , accounting for 6.34 per cent of the total Fixed Income market turnover.