Turnover of transactions in the Fixed Income and Currency (FIC) markets amounted to N9.75 trillion in August, 2016, according to the FMDQ OTC securities exchange.

A statement posted on FMDQ OTC platform said that the figure represented a decrease of 23.49 per cent or N2.99 trillion from amount recorded in July.

The statement added that the figure also represented a year-on-year decline of 15.88 per cent or N1.84 trillion.

According to the statement, activities at the Foreign Exchange market accounted for 23.29 per cent compared to 27.56 per cent recorded in July.

It said that the Federal Government bonds and unsecured placements/takings accounted for 2.92 per cent compared to 3.79 per cent in July, and 4.06 per cent of the total turnover, respectively.

It said that Treasury Bills transactions accounted for 33.02 per cent of total turnover during the period while secured money accounted for 36.65 per cent.

“Transactions in the foreign exchange market settled at 3.16 billion dollars in August, a drop of 66.53 per cent ($6.28bn) compared with the value recorded in July.

“The second Naira-settled OTC FX Futures contract (NGUS AUG. 24, 2016), with a total outstanding amount of 152.48 million dollars, priced at $/N310, matured and was settled within the month.

“The CBN revised the rates on all outstanding OTC FX Futures contracts, whilst a new 12-month contract – NGUS AUG. 16, 2017 was introduced at $1/N241.00.”

The statement said that member-member trades stood at 260 million dollars during the period, a decline of 69.80 per cent.

It added that member-client trades also declined by 62.40 per cent or 4.78 billion dollars from the previous month and 68.46 per cent or 6.26 billion dollars year-on-year.

The statement said that at the interbank market, the naira appreciated by 1.56 per cent to close at N316.24 to a dollar for the month, while at the parallel market, it depreciated by 9.93 per cent to close at N413.00 to a dollar. (NAN)