TheCable

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday revealed that it sold N114.39bn in treasury bills of maturities ranging between three months and one year at a primary market auction.

According to CBN, a combined N200bn worth of bills were also sold this week to manage liquidity.

It also sold N33.78 billion in 6-month notes at 10.10 percent, 13 basis points lower than the previous auction, Reuters said.

The bank sold N21.53bn worth of three-month paper at 9.95 per cent, higher than 9.58 per cent at a previous auction on September 17 when demand of the three-month and six-month paper sold stood at N122bn.

Also, interbank lending rates rose this week from an average of 10.37 per cent to 10.50 per cent this week after a Treasury bill sale drained liquidity.

The open buy-back rate climbed slightly from 10.25 per cent to 10.50 per cent below the CBN’s benchmark interest rate of 12 percent.

Meanwhile, the market opened with a cash balance of about N516bn (from around N400bn last Friday) from government budgetary allocations, matured open market bills and oil company cash call payments before settling bills sold this week.