Nigerian Treasury Bills Yield Pulls Back Amidst Disinflation
The average yield on Nigerian Treasury bills pulled back in the secondary market due to the latest round of bargain hunting for naira assets amidst disinflation.
Nigeria’s inflation soared 105 basis points to 24.23%, based on the rebased consumer price index (CPI) data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from 23.18% in February. On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices increased to 3.90%.
The market has been reacting with sentiment, with some analysts projecting the monetary policy is tight-fisted to adjust benchmark interest due to a shift in global sentiment.
In the secondary market, trading activity was light across maturities, though the long end saw relatively stronger demand, with the December 2025 and March 2026 bills attracting the most attention.
Investment firm AIICO Capital Limited reported that the limited transactions executed were primarily retail-sized, while the benchmark NTB average mid-rate edged lower.
Fixed-income market analysts said the current market sentiment is likely to hold steady on Thursday, though trading activity may moderate as participants prepare for the Easter holiday.
Yields moderated slightly across the curve, particularly at the long end. Notably, the 19-Feb bill was quoted at 19.70/19.20, compared to 19.50%/19.00% at the start of the session, TrustBanc Financial Group Limited said in an investor note.
Despite the overall bullish sentiment, the 5-Feb bill witnessed notable selloffs, quoted at 19.69%/19.19%, against 19.49%/18.99% earlier in the day. Overall, the average benchmark yield closed at 20.93%.
Across the curve, the average yield declined at the short (-9 bps) and mid (-1bp) segments following the demand for the 86-day to maturity (-55bps) and 177-day to maturity (-1bp) bills, respectively.
However, yield expanded at the long (+16bps) end due to the selloff of the 240-day to maturity (+75bps). Conversely, the average yield declined by 80bps to 28.3% in the OMO bills segment. #Nigerian Treasury Bills Yield Pulls Back Amidst DisinflationPension Fund Assets Grows to N23.366 Trillion
