Treasury Bills Yield Falls by 19bps after CBN Rejects Bids
The average yield on Nigerian Treasury bills fell by 19 basis points in the secondary market, a day after the Central Bank rejected investors bids at the main auction.
The CBN opened N400 billion worth of Nigerian Treasury bills for subscription on Wednesday, but investors subscription level settled at N1.54 trillion, reflecting increased demand for the naira assets.
The Apex Bank ultimately sold ₦714.38 billion, with stop rates declining across tenors: 91-day papers fell 50bps to 18.00%, 182-day dropped 100bps to 18.50%, and 364-day edged 3bps lower to 19.60%, AIICO Capital Limited told investors in a note.
The unmet bid worth N826 billion filtered into the secondary market, lifting up demand. As a results, asset prices climbed while yield decline.
Traders said there were selective interest at the long end of the curve. Buying interest in this asset drove yields lower by 41bps, bringing the average yield down by 19 bps to close at 20.82%.
Some market players looked to take profits on their auction winnings, which led to a slight moderation in yields. Also, 9-Oct, 6-Nov, and 8-Jan maturities also attracted notable interest.
Analysts said while many participants came to market looking to take profits by offering their positions, bid interest remained limited after the oversubscribed sale. The newly issued one-year bill (23 Apr 2026) emerged as the session’s most active paper.
Despite the imbalance between offers and bids, total executed volumes still showed improvement compared to previous sessions. Investor sentiment will likely remain mixed, though analyst said they anticipate stronger interest at longer-dated maturities.
Across the curve, the average yield expanded at the short (+2bps) end, driven by selloffs of the 91DTM (+16bps) bill, while it contracted at the mid (-9bps) and long (-33bps) segments.
The yield contraction followed demand for the 168-day to maturity (-49bps) and 196-day to maturity (-176bps) bills, respectively. Meanwhile, the average yield contracted by 95bps to 27.2% in the OMO segment. Overall, the average yield on Nigerian Treasury bills fell by 19 basis points to close at 20.82% on Thursday. #Treasury Bills Yield Falls by 19bps after CBN Rejects Bids#
