T-Bills Market Trades Flat as Investors Focus on OMO Auction

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The treasury bills market was relatively flat on Thursday except for slight interests on some short tenors.

According to Zedcrest Research, this was as market players shifted focus to the OMO auction conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) during the trading session.

It was gathered that at the exercise, the apex bank sold a total of N453 billion of the N450 billion offered and the N423 billion that matured.

The most interests remained on the longest tenor, while rates were unchanged at 11.50 percent, 13.00 percent and 14.50 percent on the 77-day, 182-day and 364-day bills offered.

“We expect yields to close the week on a relatively calm note, as demand pressures are expected to have been calmed by the significant OMO sale by the CBN,” Zedcrest Research said.

Meanwhile, the average money market rates slightly increased at the close of business yesterday with the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate and the Overnight (OVN) rate closing at 6.67 percent and 7.73 percent.

This was as the system liquidity was estimated to have dipped slightly to N247 billion, following the net outflow of N30 billion from the CBN’s OMO sale on Thursday.

The rates are expected to close the week on a relatively calm note as there are no significant outflows expected on Friday.