T-Bills Yield Flattish with High Interest Rate Chasing Disinflation
The average yield on Nigerian Treasury bills (NTB) was relatively flattish due to mixed trading activities in the secondary market on Thursday. The portfolio rebalancing efforts have neutral impacts on the yield curve, though there were notable adjustments across durations.
Investors’ interest in the naira assets surged after the monetary authority kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 27%, chasing Nigeria’s 16.05% inflation rate.
The decision kept real return on fixed interest securities at about 11%, signal deliberate efforts to make Nigerian debt capital market attractive, though at costs of the authority.
MarketForces Africa reported that the CBN kept interest rate on 91-day bills at 15.30% at the midweek auction last week, and at the belly of the curve, 182-day bills attracted 15.50% spot rate. Nigerian Treasury bills with 364-day to maturity was sold to investors at the rate of 16.04%.
The market closed with some mild bullish sentiments at the short-end (-1bps) and mid-segment (-1bps), offset by sell pressures at the longer dated 19-Nov (+8bps) bill, according to CardinalStone Securities Limited.
Transactions softened due to moderation in system liquidity, with trading activity concentrated on the short- and long-term bills. The 19-Feb 2026 maturity recorded a slight rate decline of 3 bps to 15.45%, while the 19-Nov-26 bill experienced a 7 bps increase in its discount rate to 16.09%.
However, rates across other maturities were largely unchanged, leaving the average discount rate stable. The average yield closed the day flat at 16.85%.
In the OMO bills segment, the average yield expanded by 42 bps to 21.9% as investors trimmed their holdings via secondary market transactions. NGNUSD Falls on Weak FX Inflows, Rising Foreign Payments
