T-Bills Market Remains Bearish as CBN Raises N133.8b

By Dipo Olowookere

The treasury bills market remained bearish this week with average yield increasing by 81 basis point to 17.92 percent.

This was despite the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) auctioning N133.79 billion bills via the primary markets during the week.

Business Post reports that the central bank sold 91-day bills worth N32.40 billion at 13.1 percent (against 13.25 percent), 182-day bills worth N35.00 billion at 15.3 percent (against 15.50 percent), and 364-day bills worth N66.39 billion at 15.59 percent (against 15.73 percent).

Also at the market, there was maturities for T-bills and Open Market Operations (OMO) totalling N174.33 billion.

The breakdown of the maturities were 91-day bills worth N32.40 billion, 154-day bills worth N0.096 billion, 163-day bills worth N0.22 billion, 167-day bills worth N0.48 billion, 181-day bills worth N0.20 billion, 182-day bills worth N25.51 billion, 358-day bills worth N49.04 billion and 364-day bills worth N66.39 billion.

In addition, yields expanded across all ends of the curve as investors sold off the 21-DEC-2017, 25-JAN-2018, and 3-MAY-2018 bills.

Next week, a total of N17.41 billion OMO would be maturing at the market.

These are 167-day bills worth N0.16 billion, 168-day bills worth N1.78 billion, 177-day bills worth N0.99 billion, 182-day bills worth N13.25 billion, 183-day bills worth N1.19 billion and 185-day bills worth N0.12 billion.