Accepted amount dips to 23% at weekly auction

•  Bond market activity remains muted

By Wealth Trust Securities

The weekly Treasury bill auction conducted yesterday saw a 19-week low volume of Rs. 10.26 billion being accepted in total against a total offered amount of Rs. 45 billion. 

Furthermore, no successful bids were recorded on the 364-day maturity for the first time since June 2019 or 94 weeks. The weighted average rate on the 91-day and 182-day maturities reflected increases of 1 and 2 basis points respectively to 5.05% and 5.10% while the bids to offer ratio decreased to a 26-week low of 1.03:1. 

The activity in the secondary bond market continued to remain moderate yesterday with limited trades seen on the maturities of 15.12.22, 15.01.23 and 15.07.23 at levels of 5.88%, 5.95% and 6.25% respectively. In secondary bills, 23 April 2021, 28 May 2021 and 25 June 2021 maturities traded at level of 4.70%, 4.85% to 4.88% and 4.90% to 5.02% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 29 March 2021 was Rs. 9.68 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity surplus was seen decreasing further to Rs. 102.59 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 46 billion was withdrawn for Central Banks SLFR of 5.50%. An amount of Rs. 148.59 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR of 4.50%, while the weighted average rates on call money and repos stood at 4.61% and 4.63% respectively.

USD/LKR 

In the Forex market, USD/LKR rate on spot contracts traded at level of Rs. 199.80 yesterday while the more active one-week forward contracts were seen closing the day at levels of Rs. 199.50/200.50 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 199.25/75.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 29 March 2021 was $ 29.65 million.   

(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)