As most operators in the economy continue to wait for government policy pronouncements before making major business and investment moves bond market appears to be an exception in the game. The market, measured by Financial Markets Derivatives Quote (FMDQ) total market index, has returned 7.9 per cent Year-To-Date last week though recent trading momentum remains subdued.

This generally bullish performance continued till the third trading day of the first business week in the life of the new government in Nigeria. Dealers said the increase can be related to improved optimism in the new government though investors seem to be awaiting the policy direction of the new administration to charge-up their decision making.

On account of the perceived silence in the first week after inauguration, yields on fixed income instruments across all tenors traded sideways in the last three days of the week.

Average yields declined 8 basis points on Friday while Week-on-Week analysis of the sovereign yield curve shows divergence at the lower end signifying increased investor appetite for treasury bills.

According to analysts at Afrinvest Group, political risk, credit risk, re-investment risk, interest rate risk and exchange rate risk are the main factors that continue to define investors’ actions.

In their report last weekend they stated that the recent considerations by the United States of America to raise interest rates may divert funds from the Nigerian capital market, hence a likely reduction in the rate of foreign participation in the bond market, adding however, that ‘’we expect the bond market this week to ride on any possible economic pronouncement by the new government”.

A week after the inauguration of Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, the financial market has sustained a calm momentum on the back of the new president’s silence on his blueprint for the economy. The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NSE-ASI) tumbled 1.9 per cent Week-on-Week as uncertainties bordering on key macroeconomic policy direction of the new government drag the index lower.

Additionally, foreign portfolio investors whose participation in the Nigerian market accounted for over 55 per cent from 2011 to 2014 appear to have remained on the side line amid uncertainties on exchange rate and economic reforms.

In a related development, fuel scarcity continues to bite as long queues are seemingly becoming the new normal across the states.

This appears expected given some marketers’ apparent reluctance to sell at regulated prices amid fears of importing at a loss should subsidy payment be officially removed.

Some observers, however, believe the unsettling scenario in the downstream sector remained largely hinged on the President Buhari’s muted unfavourable disposition towards subsidy payment on imported fuel.

With five days since his ascendency, the only noteworthy action taken by the president relates to insecurity and ending insurgency in the country.

Some economy analysts believe the President must set the tone for the market by making a clear pronouncement on critical concerns in the economy.

Chief among these include the oil and gas sector and subsidy removal, exchange rate and the framework for monetary policy, addressing the power sector crisis and the future of infrastructure in Nigeria.