By Dipo Olowookere
Yields of treasury bills at the secondary market in Nigeria moved in different directions on Monday across the four major tenors monitored, Business Post is reporting.
For example, the one-month instrument recorded a rise in yield by 0.23 percent to close at 9.22 percent, same as the three-month maturity, which appreciated by 0.47 percent to finish at 9.72 percent at the market yesterday.
However, yield on the six-month tenor fell by 0.11 percent to end at 10.67 percent, while the 12-month bill depreciated by 0.29 percent to settle at 12.07 percent when activities came to an end.
This left the average yield of the debt instrument improving by 0.08 percent to leave at 10.42 percent at the close of business and the market bearish.
At the market yesterday, the apex bank did not float an OMO auction and it is not certain if this would happen today.
On Monday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) commenced its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja and investors would be waiting for outcome of the gathering.
Today, Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, would address the media to reveal decision of members of the committee on the rates of key financial indicators like the benchmark interest rate, which is presently at 13.50 percent.
Meanwhile, rates in the money market moved up by 8.07 percent on the average yesterday as system liquidity was drained by the N75 billion wholesale FX sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This resulted in the average rates closing yesterday at 20.36 percent after the Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (OVN) rates gained 7.64 percent and 8.50 percent respectively.
At the close of transactions, OBB rate settled at 19.57 percent against its previous closure of 11.93 percent, while the OVN rate ended at 21.14 percent against 12.64 percent it finished at the last session.
The rates are expected to moderate today as banks gain access to the CBN’s SLF window for their funding needs.
Adedapo Adesanya