CBN Opens 2018 with N58b OMO Sales

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) kicked off the first trading day of 2018 with the sale of N58.4 billion worth of treasury bills via the Open Market Operations (OMO).

The exercise was conducted to mop up excess liquidity in the system as the CBN regularly does as the regulator of the banking industry in Nigeria.

The market had resumed from the New Year break yesterday, but it was relatively quiet as traders anticipate the sale of T-bills at the primary market today.

At the close of transactions on Tuesday, the apex bank sold 865 million worth of the 79-day bill at 12.75 percent, and N57.50 billion worth of the 198-day bill at 14.55 percent stop rate.

The market is expected to be very active on Wednesday (today) as investors get involved in the treasury bills sale at the primary market.

Meanwhile, the money market rates slightly rose yesterday.

The open buy back (OBB) rate grew from 3.83 percent to 4.67 percent, while the overnight rate jumped to 5.50 percent from 4.50 percent in the last trading session.