N376b Inflows in Maturing Bills to Moderate Rates at Interbank

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

This week, treasury bills worth N375.98 billion will mature via the secondary market, Business Post is reporting.

This inflow in maturing treasury bills, according to analysts at Cowry Asset, is expected to cause relative ease in the financial system liquidity with resultant moderation in interbank rates even as there will be no primary market auctions during the week.

Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) auctioned T-bills worth N145.29 billion via the primary market.

In line with expectations, the stop rate for the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day rose to 10.98 percent from 10.96 percent, 13.49 percent from 12.69 percent and 14.40 percent from 13.45 percent respectively.

In the Secondary Market, the apex bank also auctioned N517.61 billion worth of T-bills and the total outflows worth N662.90 billion offset the inflows from the matured T-bills worth N415.95 billion.

However, NIBOR fell for all tenor buckets tracked amid financial system liquidity ease, with the overnight funds, 1-month, 3-month and 6-month falling to 4.42 percent from 10.33 percent, 12.07 percent from 13.80 percent, 13.49 percent from 14.03 percent and 14.45 percent from 14.77 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, NITTY moderated for most maturities tracked amid renewed buy pressure: yields on 1-month, 3-month and 6-month maturities fell to 10.43 percent from 12.85 percent, 12.37 percent from 12.97 percent and 13.34 percent from 13.39 percent respectively.

However, NITTY for 12-months rose to 16.49 percent from 16.29 percent.