Money Market Rate to Trade Low this Week

Money market rates are expected to trade slightly lower following system liquidity boost, dealers have said.

Dealers said this will be as a result of the impact of maturities worth N169.4billion expected on the 21st of March.

Consequently, some dealers said they expect the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to hold Open Market Operation (OMO) auction, in line with trend, to keep system liquidity in check.

According to Zedcrest Capital Limited, despite the N91billion expected in coupon payments this week, it is expected that yields to remain relatively flat, as market players look forward to the FGN bond auction scheduled to hold in the last week of the month.

Meanwhile in the money market, rates – Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (OVN) increased by the close of the first trading day to settle at 10.8per cent and 11.6per cent respectively, before declining to 9.4per cent and 10.0per cent by mid-week and increasing to 11.17 per cent and 11.67per cent by the close of the week. Hence, the OBB and OVN rates were up 2.0 per centage points (ppts) apiece compared to prior week’s close of 9.2per cent and 10.1per cent respectively.

In the secondary market, it was observed that buying interest across all tenors drove a bullish performance on the Treasury bills yield curve as average yield declined 1.12per cent to close at 12.78per cent from 13.90per cent posted in the previous week.