Nigeria’s interbank money market rates reflected mixed patterns on Thursday as liquidity in the financial system remained strong, even after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deployed measures aimed at tightening the funding environment.
The apex bank conducted two open market operations (OMO), offering a total of N700 billion worth of bills to investors. Both auctions attracted strong interest from market participants, and allotments were debited directly from system balances.
According to figures from AIICO Capital Limited, system liquidity declined to N1.428 trillion on Thursday from N2.578 trillion the previous day, representing a sharp intraday outflow of about N1.150 trillion. Despite this, funding conditions remained robust enough to reduce activity at the CBN’s Standing Lending Facility (SLF), where deposit money banks typically access short-term loans. Borrowing at the SLF window eased due to the absence of significant funding pressure.
Trading in the interbank market stayed subdued, with minimal flows reported. As a result, interbank rates held steady at 26.5%, and analysts expect rates to remain around that level unless substantial funding pressures develop.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Interbank Borrowing Rate (NIBOR) showed a largely downward trajectory across tenors, though the Overnight (OVN) rate rose slightly by 0.13%. In the money market, the Open Repo Rate (OPR) was unchanged at 26.50%, while the Overnight rate ticked up by 8 basis points to 26.96%.
Yields in the Nigerian Treasury Bills (NT-Bills) market recorded mild gains across most maturities. The 3-month tenor rose by 5 basis points, while both the 6-month and 12-month tenors advanced by 6 basis points each. The 1-month tenor, however, held firm at 16.21%.
Overall, the average NT-Bills yield climbed by 16 basis points to 18.81%, reflecting persistent weak investor appetite and negative sentiment in the secondary market.
