Nigeria’s money market continued to trade under steady conditions Wednesday as system liquidity remained amply supplied, despite a major outflow linked to the settlement of federal government bonds.
The day’s trading opened with a liquidity surplus of ₦2.3 trillion—up by ₦30.6 billion from the previous level—according to a market note issued by AIICO Capital. This improvement followed a remarkable jump in Deposit Money Banks’ (DMBs) placements at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Standard Deposit Facility (SDF).
Updated data from TrustBanc Financial Group Limited showed that banks’ SDF placements surged by 150% to ₦2.64 trillion at the close of business on Wednesday, indicating that banks continued to park excess cash at the CBN despite recent monetary adjustments.
Market analysts at AIICO Capital noted that the trend persisted even though the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) recently revised the Standard Facility Corridor (SFC) to +50/-450 basis points from its previous +250/-250 bps range.
The money market’s direction was also shaped by significant system liquidity inflows triggered by the CBN’s asymmetric corridor policy shift and the previous day’s ₦360 billion in OMO bill maturities.
As a result, the average interbank funding rate held flat, with the Open Repo Rate (OPR) unchanged at 22.50% and the Overnight (O/N) rate steady at 22.75%. Analysts expect funding rates to remain within this band unless unexpected liquidity withdrawals occur.
In the Treasury Bills secondary market, yields declined across all major tenors. The 1-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month bills dipped by 2 bps, 10 bps, 11 bps, and 1 bp respectively. Nonetheless, the overall NT-Bills average yield remained stable at 16.85%, underscoring a measured risk appetite and a cautious tone among fixed-income investors.
