The Central Bank of Nigeria quietly splashed N1.49 trillion into Wednesday’s June 17 Treasury bill auction — and it wasn’t shy about hiking stop rates across all three tenors.
Inflation at 15.93% in May kept investors hungry for better returns, so they piled into T-bills. Offers totaled N1.0 trillion but bids came in at N1.863 trillion (a 1.9x bid-to-offer). The CBN ended up allotting N1.491 trillion (a bid-to-cover of 1.2x), well above the original offer to soak up excess liquidity.
Highlights:
– 91-day (matures Sept 2026): offer N100 billion, subscription N129.69 billion, allotment N129.32 billion. Stop rate 16.28% (up 23bps from 16.05%). Secondary close 16.30%.
– 182-day (matures Dec 2026): offer N100 billion, subscription N70.22 billion (70.2% of offer), allotment N70.17 billion. Stop rate 16.50% (up 31bps from 16.19%). Secondary close 16.17%.
– 364-day (matures June 2027): offer N800 billion, subscription N1.663 trillion (2.08x), allotment N1.291 trillion. Stop rate 17.34% (up 99bps from 16.35%). Secondary close ~16.41%.
The one-year bill dominated demand — about 89.3% of subscriptions and 86.6% of allotments. That 99-basis-point jump on the 364-day note is the biggest single-tenor move this year, a clear sign markets expect stubborn inflation and no quick CBN rate cuts.
Other notes: OMO bills were stopped at 20.37%–21.80% on May 29. Average T-bill yields sit roughly between 16.5% and 17.89%. Bond yield rose 7bps to ~16.89%. The CBN’s MPR remains at 26.50%.
