By Modupe Gbadeyanka
It is projected that liquidity will increase in the financial system this week and that this will cause the interbank rates to reduce.
According to analysts at Lagos-based Cowry Asset, traders in the nation’s fixed income market will look forward to the maturity of treasury bills valued at N327.56 billion via the Open Market Operations (OMO).
“In the new week, treasury bills worth N327.56 billion will mature via OMO; hence, we expect interbank rates to moderate amid anticipated boost in financial system liquidity,” they posited.
Last week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) refinanced matured T-bills worth N229.63 billion via the primary market, while N210.29 billion was sold via OMO.
For the primary market issues, stop rates went up for all maturities, with the 90-day bill going up to 3.50 percent from 2.95 percent, the 182-day bill increased to 4.50 percent from 3.95 percent, while the 364-day bill increased to 6.50 percent from 5.09 percent.
During the week, N514.05 billion OMO bills matured, resulting in total inflows worth N743.68 billion when combined with the primary market maturities of N229.63 billion.
Overall, inflows exceeded outflows worth N439.92 billion. However, given the increase in CRR to 27.50 percent NIBOR rose for all tenor buckets.
NIBOR for overnight, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months tenure buckets increased to 13.08 percent from 3.61 percent, 9.72 percent from 8.07 percent, 9.58 percent from 8.09 percent and 9.19 percent from 8.60 percent respectively.
Elsewhere, in response to the increase in stop rates for all day bills, NITTY for all maturities tracked surged as true yields on 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months maturities rose to 3.00 percent from 2.98 percent, 3.23 percent from 3.18 percent, 3.72 percent from 3.60 percent and 5.17 percent from 4.99 percent respectively.
