By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The secondary market for treasury bills came under selling pressure on Monday as happenings in the political setting of the nation kept investors on the alert.
During the day’s session, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) floated an OMO auction to curtail the volume of liquidity in the financial system.
At the exercise, the apex bank mopped up N48.9 billion.
The central bank allotted N2.3 billion worth of the 87-day bill, N6.3 billion worth of the 192-day bill and N48.3 billion worth of the 360-day bill to market players at the OMO sale.
Business Post reports that the stop rates were left unchanged at 11.90 percent, 13.50 percent and 15.00 percent for the 87-day bill, 192-day bill and 360-day bill respectively.
At the close of business yesterday, the average yields of treasury bills traded at the secondary market increased by 0.14 percent to settle at 12.62 percent.
Apart from the 9-month bill, which recorded a 0.09 percent decline in its yield to close at 16.64 percent, every other tenor closed in green.
The 1-month yield rose by 0.17 percent to finish at 12.23 percent, 3-month yield appreciated by 0.05 percent to settle at 12.38 percent, 6-month yield grew by 0.21 percent to end at 14.27 percent, while the 12-month yield increased by 0.36 percent to finish at 17.48 percent.
Meanwhile, at the money market on Monday, the average rate appreciated by 4.15 percent to close at 16.69 percent.
This followed the 3.99 percent and 4.31 percent growth recorded by the Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (OVN) rates respectively.