By Dipo Olowookere
Investors in the treasury bills market in Nigeria will be expecting the maturing of N424.87 billion worth of the government instrument this week.
These bills are expected to mature via the primary and secondary market which will offset T-bills worth N180.86 billion to be rolled over by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) via the primary market; viz: 91-day bills worth N6.22 billion, 182-day bills worth N50 billion and 364-day bills worth N124.64 billion.
This development, according to analysts at Cowry Asset, is expected to cause a renewed liquidity strain in the system with resultant spike in interbank rates.
Last week, the central bank auctioned treasury bills worth N232.63 billion via Open Market Operations (OMO). The outflow was partly offset by N216.04 billion in matured T-bills.
Also, Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) worth N736.52 billion outweighed Standing Lending Facility (SLF) worth N297.32 billion by 247.72%; indicative of liquidity surplus which was in line with expections.
Consequently, NIBOR moderated for most tenor buckets amid renewed financial system liquidity ease: NIBOR for 1 month, 3 months and 6 months tenor buckets fell w-o-w to 13.54% from 13.56%, 13.95% from 15.08% and 14.84% from 17.09% respectively; however, NIBOR for overnight tenor bucket rose to 5.71% from 3.50%.
Elsewhere, NITTY rose for all maturities tracked amid renewed bearish activity: yields on the 1 month, the 3 months, 6 months and 12 months maturities rose to 12.35% from 10.25%, 12.64% from 11.54%, 12.90% from 12.29% and 13.32% from 12.99% respectively.
Adedapo Adesanya