By Dipo Olowookere
Treasury bills yields appreciated yesterday by 0.35 percent as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resumed its sale of the debt instruments via the Open Market Operations (CBN).
During the exercise, the apex bank sold N172.7 billion worth of the OMO bills to investors, more than the N130 billion it auctioned.
It was observed that market players were more interested in the long-dated bill during the sale.
The bank had auctioned N80 billion worth of the 331-day instrument, but it received N204.55 billion, with N117.34 billion eventually allotted. The rate cleared at 12.89 percent.
Of the N20 billion worth of the 205-day bill, subscriptions valued at N24.34 billion were received and allotted at 12.85 percent. For the 93-day bill, the apex bank auctioned N30 billion of the instrument, with offers valued at N38.25 billion received and N31 billion allotted at 11.78 percent.
On the treasury bills yields, only the one-month instrument recorded a loss, going down by 0.11 percent to settle at 10.25 percent.
Business Post reports that the 12-month bill was flat yesterday to close at 14.44 percent.
Yields on the 3-month instrument rose during the trading session by 1.43 percent to finish at 12.07 percent, while the 6-month bill appreciated by 0.08 percent to close at 13.39 percent.
Meanwhile, the average money market rates went down on Tuesday by 0.50 percent to close for the day at 10.47 percent.
This followed the 1.29 percent and 1.21 percent decline suffered by the Open Buy Back (OBB) and the Overnight (OVN) rates respectively.
At the close of business, the OBB rate went down to 10.07 percent from 11.36 percent, while the OVN rate dropped to 10.86 percent from 12.07 percent.
Barring a significant OMO sale by the central bank, the money market rates are expected to remain relatively stable.
Adedapo Adesanya