Money market yesterday was awash with liquidity owing to the injection of N252.8 billion worth of treasury bills forcing the Nigeria Inter-Bank Offered Rates (NIBOR) to dip across tenor buckets.
For instance, both 7-day and 30-day tenors dropped to 10.83 percent and 11.12 percent yesterday from the previous rates of 11.25 percent and 11.54 percent, respectively.
An analyst confirmed this to BusinessDay last night but expects to see the rates rise today because of the Open Market Operation (OMO) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Naira on the other hand, appreciated against the dollar yesterday at the inter-bank market, gaining 45 kobo to close at N157.61/$ compared to N158.06/$ the previous day, data from the Financial Markets Dealers Association (FMDA) has revealed.
The analyst said the appreciation of naira was the outcome of CBN’s intervention of $300 million and inflows from an oil company.
According to the analyst, there was rising demand for the greenback before the Easter celebration but it has slowed slightly afterwards.
The CBN on Wednesday intervened with an offer of $300 million but sold $237 million at N155.74/$ at it bi-weekly Wholesale Dutch Auction System (WDAS).
The local currency yesterday remained stable at the official, bureau de change and parallel markets closing at N155.75/$, N160.0000/$, and N160.5000/$, respectively
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
