Investors Stake N13.9trillion on FMDQ OTC Exchange in Two Months

Investors exchanged a total of N13.92 trillion on securities in the Nigerian fixed income and currency markets in January and February of 2016.

The transactions were facilitated by FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange in the two months.

The FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange was licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2013 as an over-the-counter (OTC) securities exchange and self-regulatory organisation to run the fixed income trading platform and organize the market to international standards.

Data obtained showed that the exchange has facilitated N13.92 trillion investment in the market in the first two months of the year. While investors staked N7.35 trillion in January, February accounted for N6.57 trillion, which showed a decrease of 10.6 per cent.

An analysis of the performance in February showed that decline was driven majorly by a plunge in foreign exchange (FX)transactions).

Activities in the FX market contributed 23.89 per cent to the turnover, down by 4.32 per cent from the value recorded in January whilst Treasury Bills (T.bills) transactions contributed 35.67 per cent to the total, up 7.51 per cent from previous month.

Secured market transactions (Repos1 / Buy-Backs) accounted for 25.54 per cent of total turnover in the month, while FGN bonds’ contribution settled at 12.42 per cent. Activities in Unsecured Placements/Takings accounted for 2.15% of total turnover.

Specifically, transactions in the FX market stood at $6.56 billion,$2.35 billion (26.385 per cent) below the value recorded in the previous month with an average daily turnover of $0.32 billion. Member-Member trades declined $38.84 million (31.87 per cent) as activity declined across all sub-categories. Member-Client transactions, also, recorded a decline of $1.96 billion (25.51 per cent) to end the month at $5.73 billion.

Unsecured Placements/Takings declined by N98.27bn (41.03 per cent) to settle at N147.27bn for the month.