The Central Bank of Nigeria has absorbed about ₦2.5 trillion from the financial system through its latest Open Market Operations auction as the apex bank continues efforts to manage liquidity in the banking sector.

The auction, conducted on Wednesday, attracted approximately ₦3 trillion in subscriptions, three times the ₦1 trillion initially offered by the CBN.

The securities were offered across 69-day, 90-day and 153-day maturities, with demand allowing the apex bank to allot substantially more than its original offer.

The 69-day bill cleared at 19.25 per cent, while the 90-day instrument recorded a stop rate of 19.05 per cent. The longer 153-day bill cleared at 18.39 per cent.

The allotment effectively withdrew about ₦2.5 trillion from the financial system, highlighting the scale of the CBN's continuing liquidity-management operations.

Open Market Operations are one of the monetary policy tools used by the central bank to regulate the amount of money circulating within the financial system.

When the CBN sells OMO bills, participating investors exchange available funds for the securities, effectively withdrawing liquidity from the market. The mechanism can also influence short-term interest rates and broader monetary conditions.

The latest auction comes amid sustained investor appetite for short-term fixed-income instruments.

Earlier OMO auctions have similarly recorded subscriptions significantly above the amounts initially offered by the CBN, even as yields on the instruments have moved below the 20 per cent level.

At an auction on August 26, for instance, the apex bank offered ₦1 trillion across two maturities but received ₦4.26 trillion in subscriptions and eventually allotted ₦2.8 trillion.

Another auction earlier this month attracted about ₦6.32 trillion in subscriptions against an initial ₦1 trillion offer, with approximately ₦4.4 trillion eventually allotted.

The repeated oversubscriptions indicate continued strong investor demand for CBN instruments as participants seek returns in Nigeria's fixed-income market.

Money-market rates, meanwhile, remained elevated following the latest operation.

The overnight rate rose marginally to 22.20 per cent, while the Open Repo Rate remained at 22 per cent, reflecting relatively tight short-term funding conditions despite the volume of liquidity within the financial system.

The latest auction adds to a series of large-scale liquidity operations undertaken by the CBN in recent months as the monetary authority manages money supply and short-term interest rates.