By Dipo Olowookere
The treasury bills market was traded bearish on Tuesday amid massive selloff seen in the short tenured instruments.
This was as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) conducted another Open Market Operations (OMO) exercise yesterday.
During the auction, the apex bank sold N21 billion of the N30 billion worth of the 191-day bill it offered for sale to investors. The bill cleared at 14.40 percent.
However, the N10 billion worth of the 93-day bill offered at 12.60 percent received no subscription from traders at the market.
Business Post reports that the average T-bill yields on Tuesday appreciated by 33 percent, but may drop today as more activities are expected at the market.
Analysts at Zedcrest Capital predict a bullish market on Wednesday as investors anticipate inflows from OMO maturities tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the money market rates increased sharply yesterday as the central bank mandated lenders operating in the country with balances at the Standing Lending Facility (SLF) window to fund their positions or risk having their bills rediscounted.
This put further pressure on market which opened at just N20 billion positive.
At the close of business yesterday, the overnight rate rose to 37.42 percent from 19.33 percent, while the open buy back rate jumped to 35.80 percent from 18.40 percent.
