Bond Market off to a slow start; rupee gains

By Wealth Trust Securities 

The secondary bond market commenced the new trading year on a dull note with saw yields holding steady on relatively thin volumes being transacted. Activity continued to be centred on the short to medium end of the yield curve.

Accordingly, trades were observed on the selected maturities of the 01.08.26, 15.01.27 and 15.01.28 at levels of 13.85%, 13.84% and 14.25% respectively.

In secondary market bills, January, March and June 2024 maturities were seen changing hands at levels of 11.20%, 14.15% and 14.30% to 14.02% respectively. 

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 29 December was Rs. 12.05 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 9.22% and 9.20% respectively while the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 160.81 billion yesterday.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight Repo auction for Rs. 84.80 billion at a weighted average rate of 9.10%. An amount of 

Rs. 76.26 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 10.00% while an amount of Rs. 0.25 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 9.00%. 

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day at 

Rs. 322.20/322.40 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs.323.90/324.00. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 29 December was $ 61.55 million.

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