Bond auctions accepted amount increases to 80.46%

• Weekly bill auction sees Rs.  81 b on offer

By Wealth Trust Securities

The total accepted volume at yesterday’s bond auctions were seen increasing to 80.46% of its total offered volume in comparison to 52% at its previous round of auctions conducted on 30 December 2021. 

A total amount of Rs. 40.23 billion was accepted in comparison to Rs. 52 billion at its previous round against total offered amounts of Rs. 50 billion and Rs. 100 billion respectively. The bids to offer ratio increased to 2.88:1. The auction maturities of 15.03.2025, 15.12.2027 and 01.12.2031 registered weighted average rates of 11.05%, 11.70% and 12.01% respectively.

The phase 2 of the auction was opened for the 2025 and 2027 maturities while a Direct issuance window of 20% of the offered amount on the 2031 maturity was opened until close of business of the day prior to settlement (i.e. 4.00 pm on 13.01.2022). 

The activity in the secondary bond market was at a standstill yesterday.

This was ahead of today’s bill auction, where in total an amount of Rs. 81 billion will be on offer, consisting of Rs. 18 billion on the 91 day maturity and Rs. 31.5 billion each on the 182 day and the 364 day maturities. 

At last week’s auction, weighted average rates on the 91 day and 364 day maturities increased to 8.26% and 8.39% respectively while the weighted average rate on the 182 day bill decreased to 8.30%. The auction was fully subscribed for the first time in four weeks.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 10 January was Rs. 1.24 billion.   

In money markets, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen draining out amounts of Rs. 60.00 billion and Rs. 5.00 billion by way of overnight and 7 day repo auctions at weighted average rates of 5.97% and 5.98% respectively while an amount of Rs. 90.32 billion was deposited at Central Banks Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 5.00%. 

The net liquidity deficit was registered at Rs. 334.11 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 489.43 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SLFR) of 6.00%. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO remained mostly unchanged at 5.94% and 5.98% respectively.

USD/LKR   

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts traded at a level of 

Rs. 203.00 while the overall market remained inactive yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 10 January was $ 50.49 million.   

(References: Central Bank of 

Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking 

companies)