By Dipo Olowookere
On Monday, the treasury bills market traded on a slightly bearish note due to the continued squeeze in system liquidity, following the OMO and FX sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The apex bank auctioned forex worth $210 million to foreign currency traders in the interbank market segment.
It was gathered that treasury bills yields marginally increased at the market today by 0.13 percent to 15.38 percent.
This occurred as the central bank sold a total of N17.96 billion worth of the 241-day bill to investors at 14.40 percent.
The apex bank had offered N30 billion worth of the 241-day instrument to traders.
Business Post reports that the central bank, however, posted a no sale notice for the 94-day today after receiving no bids from the N20 billion worth of the bills offered for sale.
As market players anticipate inflows from retail FX refunds tomorrow, there are expectations of a slowdown in bearish sentiments at the market.
Meanwhile, the money market rates depreciated on Monday as market players priced in the anticipated release of retail refunds by the CBN.
The overnight rate went down to 20 percent from 45.50 percent, while the open buy back rate crashed to 18 percent from 43.33 percent.
The rates are expected to trend slightly lower on Tuesday, barring a significant OMO sale by the central banks.
