Nigeria’s interbank lending rate on Wednesday, February 8, saw a moderate surge above 53 percent just as the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, released a ‘No-Sale’ OMO result.
The apex bank, which had offered N50 billion worth of 99-day and 197-day bills to market players, got only N9.63 billion subscriptions from traders and this came from the 197-day bill.
It was gathered that the low bids followed the tight system liquidity and consequent high funding rates in the market.
As such, the treasury bills market ended bearish as investors sold off some of their bills especially on the short end in a bid to generate liquidity for their positions.
Meanwhile, the overnight rate closed at 53.08 percent from 37.42 percent, while the open buy back rate rose to 53 percent from 35.80 percent on Tuesday.
Analysts have posited that the major jump occurred as a result of the continued funding pressures witnessed by banks in the market.
