Activity moderates ahead of weekly bill auction

By Wealth Trust Securities

Activity in the secondary bond market moderated yesterday, ahead of today’s weekly Treasury bill auction, where a total amount of Rs. 90 billion will be on offer, consisting of Rs. 45 billion on the 91 day and Rs. 22.5 billion each on the 182 day and the 364 day maturities respectively. At last week’s auction, the weighted average yields remained steady at 24.07%, 24.69% and 24.50% on the 91 day, 182 day and 364 maturities respectively.

Only the 01.06.25 maturity changed hands at a  level of 22.65% while in secondary bills, 15 July maturity changed hands at a level of 20.00%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 23 May was Rs. 2.36 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 508.99 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 199.00 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 13.50% against an amount of Rs. 707.997 billion withdrawn from Central Bank’s Standard Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of 14.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO stood at 14.50% each.

Forex market 

In the forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts continued to appreciate to Rs. 359.3764 yesterday against its previous day’s Rs. 359.4373.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 23 May was $ 45.50 million.  

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