By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s financial system witnessed a further tightening of liquidity on Monday as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) auctioned foreign exchange (forex) worth $210 million to traders in the wholesale segment of the market.
This left the treasury bills market bearish as investors sustained demand on the longer end of the curve, with slight sell witnessed on some mid tenors.
At the close of business, the average treasury bills yield went up by 0.15 percent to settle at 13.02 percent.
The one-month note recorded the highest rise, increasing by 0.39 percent to close at 10.41 percent.
The three-month paper lost 0.26 percent to end at 11.84 percent, while the six-month tenor went down by 0.05 percent to finish at 13.75 percent.
The nine-month maturity grew by 0.02 percent to close at 14.43 percent, while the one-year instrument added 0.05 percent to finish at 14.71 percent.
The central bank did not conduct an OMO auction yesterday, but one may happen on Tuesday or before the end of the week in order to soak liquidity inflows from FAAC and OMO maturities later in the week.
Meanwhile, Business Post reports that the average money market rates appreciated by 8.89 percent on Monday to settle at 23.43 percent.
This came on the back of the 8.18 percent rise recorded by the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate and the 9.60 percent growth posted by the Overnight (OVN) rate.
While the OBB rate went up to 22.43 percent 14.25 percent, the OVN rate jumped to 24.43 percent from 14.83 percent.
