Capital Markets

Treasury bill uptake higher on liquidity

CBK

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) building in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Treasury bills market last week received higher subscription helped by improved liquidity condition, with an overall subscription of 153.5 per cent up from previous 136.1 per cent.

The week’s auction attracted bids worth Sh36.8 billion against the Central Bank of Kenya’s target of Sh24 billion.

The 182-days tenor paper continued to attract more investors with bids worth Sh22.6 billion against a target of Sh10 billion. This is against the prior 10-week average of Sh7.2 billion.

Market analysts on Friday said they were concerned that this massive oversubscription on the 182-day tenor paper in future auctions will pose major concentration risk.

“This may force the regulator to shelve it off temporarily as was the scenario six months ago,” said Genghis Capital.

The six-month paper was out of auction for eight weeks.