Interbank rates yesterday dropped across tenor buckets by 1.8 percent from 26.04 percent rise on Wednesday.
This is following treasury bills worth N370.52 billion, which matured yesterday. The matured treasury bills consisted of: 71-day bills worth
N45.54 billion; 72-day bills worth N16.80 billion; 91-day bills worth
N22.06 billion; 125-day bills worth N17.65 billion; 127-day bills worth
N37.21 billion; 132-day bills worth N64.04 billion; 182-day bills worth
N50.00 billion; and 364-day bills worth N117.22 billion.
Consequently, the Nigeria Interbank Offered Rates (NIBOR) dropped to 12.90 percent from 14.68 percent the previous day, data from Financial Markets Dealers Quotations (FMDQ) have indicated.
While overnight call tenor declined to 11.91 percent from 13.75 percent the previous day, 7 days, 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days tenors went down from 13.91, 14.33, 14.66, and 15.08 percents the previous day to 12.33, 12.66, 12.91, and 13.21 percents respectively.
The interbank rates on Wednesday increased across tenor buckets by 26 percent following the withdrawal of over N700 billion public sector deposit from banking system by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
However, the nation’s currency, the naira yesterday weakened against the US dollar as it lost 56 kobo at the Nigerian Interbank Foreign Exchange (NIFEX) market as it closed at N163.50/$ compared to N162.94/$ the previous day, according to data from FMDQ.
Analysts attributed the naira depreciation to increased demand for the greenback by the end users of foreign exchange.
The CBN on Wednesday offered a total of $400 million but sold a total of $399.9 million to 19 deposit money banks at N155.75/$ at its twice weekly Retail Dutch Action System (RDAS) window.
The local currency yesterday depreciated at the parallel market as it lost 50 kobo to close at N169/$ as against N168.50/$ the previous day.
By: HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
