The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reduced the stop rate on one-year Treasury bills by 138 basis points to 16.98% at its latest primary market auction, reflecting strong investor appetite for longer-dated instruments.
At the auction conducted on Wednesday, the apex bank offered Treasury bills worth N1.15 trillion across the standard 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day tenors. Investor demand significantly exceeded supply, driven largely by interest in the one-year maturity.
Auction results showed total subscriptions of N4.586 trillion, with approximately 96% of bids concentrated in the 364-day bills. Total allotments settled at N952.6 billion as the CBN repriced yields downward in response to overwhelming demand.
For the 91-day tenor, investors submitted bids totalling N66 billion, below the N150 billion on offer. The CBN allotted N63.21 billion at the existing rate, leaving yields unchanged.
Similarly, subscriptions for the 182-day bills amounted to N123 billion, compared with an offer size of N200 billion. The CBN sold N80.61 billion at the same discount rate as the previous auction.
Demand was most pronounced at the long end of the curve, where investors chased N800 billion worth of one-year bills. Total bids for the tenor surged to N4.396 trillion, prompting the CBN to allot N808.78 billion while cutting the stop rate to 16.98%, down from 18.36% at the prior auction.
Discount rates on the shorter tenors remained unchanged at 15.84% for 91-day bills and 16.65% for the 182-day instruments.
The auction outcome underscores growing investor confidence and a preference for locking in longer-term yields amid expectations of declining interest rates.
 reduced the stop rate on one-year Treasury bills by 138 basis points to 16.98% at its latest primary market auction, reflecting strong investor appetite for longer-dated instruments.){kind=link}