Government and corporate bonds sold off Friday after Nigeria joined a growing list of countries to report cases of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Average yields on government bonds rose by 5 basis points to 9.2176 percent on Friday compared to 9.17 percent the previous day, according to data from FMDQ.
Nigeria’s benchmark Eurobond also rose to 7.28 percent compared to Thursday’s 6.95 percent.
FMDQ data also show that average yields on corporate bonds climbed to 9.27 percent from 8.98 percent the day before.
“The sell-off is as a result of the knee-jerk reaction by foreign investors to the arrival of the Coronavirus disease in Nigeria,” said Wale Okunrinboye, head of investment research at Sigma Pensions Ltd.
“The worry now is what happens if the sell-off shifts to the currency market as it could see the naira devalued in seconds,” one fx dealer told BusinessDay.
The naira weakened against the dollar to N365.25 per dollar Friday from N365.22 Thursday at the Investors and Exporters window.
LOLADE AKINMURELE
