Nume Ekeghe
Open Market Operation (OMO) bills accounted for the largest share of activity in Nigeria’s fixed income market last week, as investors executed transactions worth N6.86 trillion across Treasury bills, FGN bonds, OMO bills and Sukuk, reflecting sustained demand for high-yield government securities amid elevated interest rates.
Trading data showed that OMO bills attracted the highest turnover by value at N3.36 trillion, representing nearly half of the total market activity, despite accounting for only 498 trades. This underscores the dominance of institutional investors in the OMO segment, where larger ticket transactions continue to outweigh volumes in other asset classes.
Overall, investors executed 2,330 trades with a combined face value of N6.863 trillion during the review period. FGN bonds remained the most actively traded instrument by number of transactions, recording 1,159 deals worth N1.98 trillion, while Treasury bills accounted for 666 trades valued at N1.51 trillion. Sukuk securities recorded limited activity with only seven trades worth N19.73 billion.
Market yields remained broadly elevated across the sovereign yield curve, reflecting the prevailing high interest-rate environment. Treasury bill yields traded between approximately 17.6 per cent and 20.1 per cent, while OMO bill yields remained above 19 per cent, with the shortest tenor closing around 21.2 per cent. FGN bond yields were largely clustered between 15 per cent and 18.4 per cent across most maturities, indicating relatively stable pricing in the secondary market.
The strong performance of OMO bills also suggests that liquidity management remains a key focus for the banking sector. Banks have continued to deploy excess liquidity into CBN instruments while balancing reserve requirements and funding obligations, contributing to robust participation in the segment.
Meanwhile, the dominance of FGN bonds by transaction count indicates that longer-dated securities continue to attract active portfolio rebalancing among institutional investors, even as demand remains concentrated in shorter-duration assets offering higher yields.
