By Dipo Olowookere
The overnight lending rate declined by 1.25 percent at the close of business on Friday, settling at 13.33 percent from 14.58 percent the previous day.
This was as the system liquidity was estimated to have closed the week relatively unchanged from its opening levels of N109 billion positive yesterday.
However, the money market rates are expected to trend higher opening next week as a result of the anticipated funding for a wholesale SMIS by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday.
Meanwhile, the treasury bills market traded with mixed sentiments on Friday as market players cherry-picked on some maturities on the shorter end of the curve (NOV Maturities).
However, a slight risk off selling was observed on the longer end with yields consequently compressing slightly by 0.10 percent.
“In the coming week, we expect yields to trend slightly higher, due to expectations for a further tightening of system liquidity via expected OMO and FX interventions by the CBN,” Zedcrest Research said.
