Investors Offer CBN N1.12trn for N430bn OMO Auction

**As Sell Pressure Pushes T-Bills Yields to 12.37%

By Dipo Olowookere

The average yields of treasury bills at the secondary market in Nigeria increased on Thursday by 0.07 percent to 12.37 percent amidst renewed sell pressure by investors at the space.

Business Post reports that during the session, there were a total of 299 deals worth N198.4 billion transacted by market players across the different maturities.

At the close of business, only the long end of the curve suffered a decline in its yield. The one-year debt instrument went down by 0.06 percent to 14.32 percent from 14.34 percent.

But yield on the one-month tenor rose by 0.23 percent to 11.30 percent from 11.06 percent, yield on the three-month maturity appreciated by 0.03 percent to 11.69 percent from 11.66 percent, while yield on the six-month bill increased by 0.06 percent to 12.18 percent from 12.12 percent.

Meanwhile, during the Thursday’s trading session, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) floated an OMO, which was oversubscribed to by investors.

The came a day after the central bank sold treasury bills to investors at the primary market, where a total of N122 trillion were auctioned and allotted to traders at the market.

At yesterday’s trading day, the apex bank floated N430 billion worth of the OMO bills, but received a total subscriptions valued at N1.12 trillion, with N420.6 billion eventually allotted to subscribers.

Business Post reports that N30 billion worth of the 91-day instrument was offered for sale during the session, but N14.31 billion worth of subscriptions were received, with N14.31 billion eventually sold at 11.59 percent.

Also, the bank auctioned N50 billion worth of the 182-day bill, with subscriptions valued at N36.29 billion received and allotted at a stop rate of 11.79 percent.

Finally, the central bank also offered for sale N350 billion worth of the 364-day debt instrument, but subscriptions valued at N1.07 trillion were received from subscribers and N370 billion allotted at a stop rate of 13.35 percent, which is 0.04 percent lower than the previous rate for the same bill.