By Dipo Olowookere
The yield on the one-month treasury bills depreciated at the midweek session by 0.21 percent 24 hours after it rose by 0.25 percent.
Business Post reports that at the secondary market yesterday, the 30-day debt instrument closed at 15.18 percent against 15.39 percent it settled at the previous session.
It was observed that during Wednesday’s trading session, investors embarked on sell-offs in the absence of an OMO auction by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Three tenor recorded yield gains; the three-month paper rose by 0.60 percent to finish at 13.49 percent, nine-month note appreciated by 0.04 percent to end at 16.62 percent, while the one-year bill increased by 0.03 percent to settle at 17.29 percent.
However, apart from the one-month debt instrument which declined, yield on the six-month paper went down by 0.02 percent to close at 14.45 percent.
As a result, the average treasury bills yield closed for the day at 15.41 percent.
Generally at the market yesterday, it was observed that investors are stockpiling the mid-dated T-bills at the relatively more attractive rates in the secondary market.
The yields are expected to trend slightly higher on Thursday (today) on the back of an anticipated liquidity mop up by the apex bank as result of the N375 billion inflows from maturing OMO bills.
It is believed that the central bank will still remain reluctant to raise the stop rates at the moment during today’s OMO sale.
Meanwhile, the average money market rates closed higher at 27.17 percent at the end of yesterday’s trade.
This was because of the 1.67 percent and 0.42 percent rise in the Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (OVN) rates respectively to settle at 26.67 percent and 27.67 percent apiece.
During the day’s session, there were no significant inflows to bolster system liquidity which opened the day in negative territory of N113 billion. However, the rates should moderate sharply today on the back of inflows from OMO maturities, barring a significant OMO mop up by the CBN.
Adedapo Adesanya