By Dipo Olowookere
For the third consecutive trading sessions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) refused to sell treasury bills through the Open Market Operations (OMO) to interested investors.
This left the T-bills market bullish on Tuesday with most demands observed on the short end of the curve (March–May maturities).
However, the average yields trended downwards by 0.15 percent and barring a resumption in OMO issuance, the yields are expected to continue to trend downward as market players anticipate inflows from N57 billion worth maturing OMO bills tomorrow.
However, the lack of OMO sale by the central bank has left some market players guessing the motive of the nation’s highest lender.
Whilst some see this as a liquidity management measure in advance of the FGN Bond auction, others remain sceptical, having witnessed a similar scenario in the last month of the year 2017.
Meanwhile, the money market rates depreciated yesterday as there were no significant pressures on system liquidity currently estimated at N70 billion.
The overnight rate fell to 19.92 percent on Tuesday from 26.67 percent on Monday, while the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate dropped to 19.33 percent from 25.17 percent.
These rates are expected to remain relatively stable at these levels today, barring a significant OMO intervention by the CBN.
Adedapo Adesanya