Nigeria raises 98bn naira in Treasury bills at lower yields

LAGOS: Nigeria raised 97.8 billion naira ($491 million) in Treasury bills at an auction on Wednesday that fetched lower yields compared with the previous sale last week owing to strong appetite for the debt, the central bank said on Thursday.

Investors - mostly domestic banks and pension funds - submitted bids totalling 297.06 billion naira, three-times more than the central bank had advertised but demanded yields ranging between 10 percent to 18 percent.

The bank said it sold 14.03 billion naira in 91-day notes at 10.69 percent, compared with 10.79 percent at the previous auction on March 18.

It auctioned 10.61 billion naira in 182-day bill at 14.5 percent, compared with 14.7 percent previously while it raised 73.16 billion naira in the 1-year note at 14.85 percent, down from 15.35 percent at the last auction.