T-Bills Market Turns Bearish as CBN Sells N749b OMO Bills

By Dipo Olowookere

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Thursday resumed the sale of treasury bills via the Open Market Operations (OMO).

During the exercise, the apex bank raised a total of N748.69 billion from investors who participated in the auction.

However, the 264-day bill attracted the most attention of market players, which was oversubscribed by N184.84 billion.

Business Post reports that the central bank raised N684.84 billion from the instrument and sold it to investors at N14.30 percent.

However, it was observed that from the N200 billion worth of the 91-day bill offered to traders, the apex bank could only raise N63.85 billion at 12.50 percent stop rate.

But generally, the T-bills market was bearish yesterday with yields reversing significantly on the short and medium end of the curve, following the resumption in OMO by the CBN.

The market is expected to be bullish on Friday barring a continued OMO sale as system liquidity remains relatively buoyant at about N400 billion.

Meanwhile, the money market rates slightly appreciated yesterday with the overnight rate closing at 5.33 percent from 3.33 percent the previous session.

The Open Buy Back (OBB) rate increased on Thursday to 4.83 percent from 2.67 percent on Wednesday.

The increase in the rates, according to analysts at Zedcrest Research, was as a result of funding for yesterday’s OMO sale.

Barring a significant OMO sale by the CBN, the rates are expected to remain stable today.