Costs of borrowing eased across Nigeria’s fixed-income market on Thursday, February 19, 2026, as yields on Treasury Bills, OMO bills, and FGN bonds declined amid robust investor demand.

Market data obtained from different secondary market traders showed broad-based yield compression across key tenors, signaling cheaper financing costs for the Federal Government.

The rally spanned short, mid and long-term instruments, reflecting renewed appetite for naira-denominated assets despite relatively tight liquidity conditions.

The development points to sustained participation by domestic institutional investors, who continue to dominate the market, driving the yield trend through strong demand.

Treasury Bills led the decline in yields as buying pressure intensified across most maturities. The average NTB yield fell 14 basis points to 17.3%, marking one of the strongest weekly rallies recorded in recent sessions.

Overall, the NTB average yield closed at 17.33%, underlining a broad reduction in short-term financing costs and signalling investors’ continued comfort in deploying liquidity into risk-free government instruments.

The bullish trend was not limited to the secondary market, as lower stop rates were also observed at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s NTB auction earlier in the week, reflecting improved sentiment among local institutional investors.

The easing in borrowing costs extended to other segments of the fixed-income market, reinforcing the broader rally.

Average yields on OMO bills contracted by 6 basis points to 20.8%, suggesting continued demand for high-yielding central bank instruments even as liquidity management operations remain active.

In contrast, Nigeria’s Eurobond market moved in the opposite direction. Average yields on dollar-denominated sovereign debt edged up by 1 basis point to 6.90%, indicating slightly weaker offshore sentiment, possibly influenced by global risk conditions and external rate expectations.

The broad rally across NTBs, OMO bills and FGN bonds signals renewed investor confidence in Naira-denominated assets and has pushed domestic borrowing costs lower. The trend also comes amid expectations that monetary conditions could resume easing as inflation moderates, potentially paving the way for a policy rate adjustment by the CBN.

Overall, domestic players drove significant yield compression across multiple tenors, creating a supportive environment for government financing as borrowing costs continue to trend downward on the back of strong market demand.