The Debt Management Office allotted N968.47 billion in Nigerian Treasury Bills at its October 7, 2026 auction, exceeding the N900 billion on offer as investors concentrated demand in the one-year tenor and pushed its stop rate down to 15.85%.
Total subscriptions across the three maturities reached about N1.77 trillion, roughly 2.0 times the amount offered. The 364-day bill dominated activity, attracting N1.683 trillion in bids against N700 billion offered, equivalent to about 2.4 times the advertised amount. The DMO allotted N885 billion of the one-year instrument, N185 billion or 26.4% above the initial offer, while the stop rate eased by four basis points from 15.89% recorded at the previous auction.
The one-year paper accounted for approximately 95.1% of total subscriptions and about 91.4% of the amount eventually allotted. Its 15.85% stop rate is 146 basis points lower than the 16.84% recorded on September 2, following four consecutive declines, and 185 basis points below the 17.70% third-quarter peak reached on July 8.
Demand for shorter maturities remained weak. The DMO offered N100 billion each in 91-day and 182-day bills, but neither tenor drew subscriptions equal to half its offer. The 91-day bill attracted N39.42 billion, with N38.55 billion allotted at an unchanged 15.50%, while the 182-day bill received N46.87 billion and N44.92 billion was allotted at an unchanged 15.80%. Combined subscriptions for the two shorter instruments were N86.29 billion against N200 billion offered. The yield curve was compressed, with only 35 basis points separating the 91-day and 364-day stop rates. Demand for the one-year bill was about 19.5 times the combined subscriptions received for the two shorter tenors.
The auction occurred amid continuing central bank liquidity management. A day earlier, the CBN withdrew N3.31 trillion through an OMO auction while about N2.17 trillion in maturing OMO bills returned to the system, leaving a net withdrawal of roughly N1.14 trillion. In September, OMO sales reached about N17.51 trillion against N10.89 trillion in maturities, producing a net liquidity withdrawal of about N6.62 trillion across five auctions. The Financial Markets Dealers Association projects N13.25 trillion in financial-system liquidity inflows for October, down 14.82% from the N15.56 trillion projected for September, with OMO maturities expected to contribute N9.05 trillion, or about 68.3% of the total.
