CBN Auctions N35.69b Bills as Overnight Rate Drops to 22.33%

By Dipo Olowookere

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Wednesday continued with its Open Market Operations (OMO) auctions, selling a total of N35.69 billion bills.

A breakdown of the sale showed that the apex bank sold N2.21 billion worth of the 91-day bills at 16 percent stop rate, while it traded N33.48 billion worth of the 198-day bills at 17.80 percent.

During today’s trade, the treasury bills market was slightly bullish, with some more buys on some attractive short tenured bills, as market players anticipate inflows from OMO maturities on Thursday.

The market is expected to remain bullish tomorrow as market players look to re-invest inflows from OMO maturities.

Meanwhile, at the close of business today, the Open Buy Back (OBB) rate dropped to 20.83 percent from 24.67 percent recorded the previous.

In addition, the Overnight (OVN) rate further declined to 22.33 percent from 26.25 percent yesterday.

The decrease in the rates came as funding pressures eased on the backdrop of expectations of OMO inflows of c.N233.76bn tomorrow.