By Dipo Olowookere
On Monday, December 18, 2017, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) resumed the sale of treasury bills through the Open Market Operations (OMO) to mop up liquidity.
During today’s exercise, a total of N353.25 billion worth of T-bills was sold to investors after offering to sell N450 billion worth of the instrument.
The 101-day bill worth of N38.48 billion was sold by the apex bank at 13.15 percent, while the 255-day bills worth N314.77 billion was given to traders at 14.95 percent.
The CBN had offered N200 billion of the 29-MAR bill and N250 billion of the 30-AUG bill. It was observed that this auction exercise by the central bank left the T-bills market relatively quiet.
Consequently, the average treasury bills yields increased by 55 basis points to 14.02 percent.
Meanwhile, as a result of the liquidity mop up by the CBN today, the money market rates increased on Monday.
Specifically, the overnight rate increased from 4.33 percent last Friday to 13.25 percent on Monday, while the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate moved from 3.75 percent to 12.33 percent.
The rates are expected to marginally rise tomorrow as traders anticipate a further sale of treasury bills through the OMO on Tuesday.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Adedapo Adesanya