T-Bills Market Bearish as Yields, Overnight Rate Rise

By Dipo Olowookere

As investors patiently await the sale of treasury bills at the primary market on Wednesday, the T-bills market opened for the week yesterday bearish.

However, the average yields recorded a marginal growth on Monday, increasing by 3 basis points to finish at 14.71 percent.

It was gathered that the bearish trading at the T-bills market yesterday was as a result of weak demand for bills.

On Monday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) continued its mop up in liquidity through the open market operations (OMO).

At the close of the exercise, only N12.80 billion was realized from the N50 billion worth of the 164-day offered for sale. This cleared at 14.40 percent.

However, the apex bank declared a ‘no sale’ notice for the N30 billion worth of the 73-day bill offered to traders by the central bank.

The market may likely remain bearish today in preparation for the second PMA in 2018 tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the money market rates rose on Monday on the backdrop of the OMO auction by the CBN yesterday.

Specifically, overnight rate closed at 11.54 percent from 9.58 percent in the previous trading session, while the open buy back (OBB) rate finished at 10.83 percent from 9 percent last Friday.