Treasury Bills: Stop Rates Plunge Below 0.50% for all Maturities
In line with analysts’ expectations, Central Bank of Nigeria refinanced N167.81 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-Bills) via the primary market.
However, the move to refinance the T-bills came at lower stop rates which settled well below 0.5% for all maturities.
This is suggestive of the increased liquidity in the system that continued to chase short-term government securities.
Specifically, stop rates for 91-day, 182-day and 364-day bills crashed to 0.04% (from 0.34%),
0.15% (from 0.50%) and 0.30% (from 0.98%) respectively.
Given the N226.82 billion matured bills as against the N70 billion auctioned bills via Open Market Operations (OMO), analysts at Cowry Asset Management said they saw a boost in the financial system liquidity and a resultant drop in Nigerian-Interbank Offer Rate (NIBOR) for all tenor buckets.
NIBOR for overnight funds crashed to 1.0% (from 1.25%).
Also, NIBOR for 1 month, 3 months and 6 months plummeted to 0.50% (from 1.12%), 0.93% (from 1.15%) and 1.71% (from 1.54%) respectively.
Elsewhere, NITTY further moved northward for most maturities tracked, especially yields for 1 month, 3 months and 6 months maturities which increased to 0.21% (from 0.19%), 0.49% (from 0.22%) and 0.38% (from 0.36%) respectively.
However, yield on 12 months maturity fell to 0.24% (from 0.41%). In the new week, treasury bills worth N281.45 billion will mature via OMO.
Hence, Cowry Asset analysts said they expect interbank rates to further moderate amid anticipated boost in financial system liquidity.
For the week, the market closed with stop rates for 91-day, 182-day and 364-day bills crashed to 0.04% (from 0.34%), 0.15% (from 0.50%) and 0.30% (from 0.98%) respectively.
Treasury Bills: Stop Rates Plunge Below 0.50% for all Maturities
