The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Thursday, said it raised a total of N142.43 billion ($722.99 million) in a bid to attract investors to the longer maturity.

The yield on one year treasury bills rose to 15.25 percent at an auction held on Wednesday from 14.3 percent two weeks ago on the one-year note, fetching N80 billion.

The yield on the 3-month paper eased to 10.75 percent from 10.98 percent at the last auction on Feb. 3, fetching 32.43 billion naira, the agency said.

The yield on the 6-month paper fell to 13.70 percent from 13.9 percent previously. The paper fetched 30 billion naira.

Total demand at the auction fell to 254.33 billion naira, from 294.54 billion naira from the last auction.

The local currency has lost more than 20 percent in the past three months as oil prices collapsed and concern grew among investors about political stability after the six-week postponement of the Feb. 14 elections.

At the bond auction held on Wednesday last week, the DMO raised N76.5billion from two reopened instruments (March 2024 and July 2034) and a newly issued bond (Feb 2020).

The MAR 2024 and JUL 2034 were priced below par at the marginal rates of 15.8 per cent and 15.9 per cent respectively, while the FEB 2020 bond issued at the marginal rates of 15.5 per cent was priced at par.

Source: TRIBUNE