Average yield of the 91 day bill drops by a further 13 basis points

By Wealth Trust Securities

In an attempt to drain out liquidity on a permanent basis, the OMO (Open Market Operations) Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka conducted two auctions for the outright sale of Treasury bills, value today. 

Interestingly, it consisted of Rs. 5 billion of the latest 91 day bill maturity, which was subscribed to, at a weighted average yield of 7.84% when compared with the Wednesday’s auction average yield of 7.97%. The second auction too was for an amount of Rs. 5 billion, which was subscribed to in full at a weighted average yield of 7.78% for a period 84 days.

Furthermore, the Open Market Operations (OMO) Department also conducted repo auctions value yesterday, draining out a further Rs. 30.62 billion at a weighted average yield of 7.25% on an overnight basis and 7.32% for a seven-day period.

 The average net surplus liquidity in the system stood at Rs.39.89 billion, while the overnight call money and repo rates averaged 8.14% and 7.52% respectively

 In the secondary bond market, yields remained mostly unchanged with moderate activity. Limited trades of the 01.07.19, 01.05.20 and two 2021’s (i.e. 01.03.21 and 01.05.21) maturities were witnessed at levels of 9.54%, 9.78% and 9.98% to 10.00% respectively while in the secondary bill market, March, May, August and September maturities were traded at levels of 7.60% to 7.70%, 8.65% to 8.70%, 8.90% and 9.00% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volumes for 6 December 2017 was Rs. 3.93 billion.

Rupee closes mostly unchanged

 The USD/LKR rate on spot contracts was seen closing the day mostly unchanged at Rs. 153.30/35, subsequent to hitting intraday low of Rs. 153.43.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 6 December 2017 was US $ 30.96 million.

Some of the forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were one month - 154.20/40; three months - 155.90/20 and six months - 158.55/75.