Nigeria plans 101 bln naira T-bill auction

LAGOS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Nigeria plans to issue 101.21 billion naira ($641.18 million) in treasury bills ranging from 3-month to 6-month maturities at its regular bi-monthly debt auction on Thursday, the central bank said on Tuesday. The bank said it will issue 37.48 billion naira in 91-day paper and 63.73 billion naira in 182-day bills on Sept. 20.

Dealers said the bills are likely to be oversubscribed because of a fresh injections of oil money into government budgetary allocations for August last week, and increased offshore interest in the local debt.

Offshore investors are positioning themselves to buy sovereign debt from Africa's second biggest economy, ahead of next month's inclusion of Nigeria's bonds in JP Morgan's emerging market government bond index.

Nigeria issues treasury bills regularly to reduce money supply, curb inflation and help lenders manage their liquidity. ($1 = 157.85 naira) (Reporting by Oludare Mayowa; Editing by Tim Cocks)