By Ademola Alawiye with agency report

Friday, 24 Dec 2010

The Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday said it planned to auction N81.92bn in 91-day and 182-day treasury bills next week.

The apex bank, according to Reuters, said it would auction N31.56bn in 91-day bills and N50.36bn in 182-day bills next Thursday, using the Dutch Auction System.

The statement added that the result of the auction would be released the following day.

Inter-bank rates had risen the previous week as a result of pressure on rates from the foreign exchange market despite efforts by the CBN to put out the tightness in the market through its Open Market Operations.

Available data from the FSDH Weekly Report showed that the seven-day Nigerian Inter Bank Offered Rate closed the week at 13.04 per cent, a 204 points increase from 11 per cent recorded the previous week.

The 90-day NIBOR closed the week at 14.46 per cent, a 29 points increase from the previous week‘s figure of 14.17 per cent.

At the 91-day treasury bill auction, a total of N20bn worth of securities was offered and sold, while N8.36bn was sold to non-competitive bidders, bringing total offer and sale to N28.36bn.

At the OMO Re-purchase auctions held during the week, there was a total outflow of N54.95bn, while there was a total inflow of about N114.32bn.

In all, there was a total outflow of N179.33bn from the primary segment of the government securities market, while the CBN also injected about N229.32bn into the system through these markets, leading to a net inflow of N49.99bn into the system.

 

Source: Punch