CBN Sells N44.43b Bills as Overnight Rate Falls to 29.17%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The treasury bills market on Wednesday closed on a bearish note with average yields depreciating by 12 basis points to finish at 17.72 percent.

At close of business yesterday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold a total of N44.43 billion of the 197-day bill via the open market operations (OMO) at 17.75 percent.

This was below the N66.52 billion subscriptions received from traders at the market yesterday for the 197-day instrument. It is important to note that the 197-day bill was oversubscribed by N26.52 billion.

However, the central bank did not sell the 92-day bill despite receiving N8 million subscriptions from investors after offering to N10 billion worth of the instrument.

The treasury bills market may likely remain bearish today as traders continue to remain cautious of the market environment in the country.

Meanwhile, the overnight rate dropped to 29.17 percent on Wednesday from 31.83 percent on Tuesday, while the open buy back (OBB) rate went down to 27.17 percent from 29.17 percent.