CBN Cuts 364-Day Treasury Bill Stop Rate by 0.51%

By Dipo Olowookere

The stop rate of the 364-day treasury bill has been slashed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the primary market by 0.51 per cent, Business Post.

This reduction in the rate happened at the primary market auction conducted by the apex bank on Wednesday.

It was an action some analysts were not expecting, especially when the subscription rate of the previous exercise held two weeks ago was low, and they were expecting to further jerk the rate higher to attract more sales.

At the PMA yesterday, the subscriptions were significantly higher as investors were anticipating rates higher than in the preceding exercise.

According to data obtained by Business Post, the CBN auctioned N139.1 billion worth of the one-year instrument but received N499.4 billion worth of bids and allotted N300.2 billion at 13.99 per cent, lower than the 14.50 per cent of the previous exercise.

However, the central bank did not touch the stop rates of the two other tenors at the market during the session.

The bank offered N21.2 billion worth of the 91-day bill for sale at the market, but traders staked N15.1 billion on the maturing, with the CBN allotting 4.5 billion at 6.50 per cent.

Also, the stop rate of the 182-day bill was left intact at 8.05 per cent yesterday after the CBN sold N5.5 billion to investors after receiving N6.4 billion worth of bids for the N32.8 billion it took to the market.