Bond market activity continues at a moderate pace

By Wealth Trust Securities

Moderate activity was witnessed in the secondary bond market on Wednesday as most market participants were seen on the sidelines.

Limited trades were witnessed on the maturities of 2024s (i.e. 15.03.24, 15.09.24 and 01.12.24) at levels of 9.22% to 9.25%, 9.45% and 9.50% respectively. In secondary bills, February 2022 maturities traded at levels of 7.47% to 7.50%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 16 November was Rs. 36.69 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 226.68 billion on Wednesday as an amount of Rs. 70.92 billion was deposited at the Central Bank’s SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 5% against an amount of Rs. 312.75 billion withdrawn from the Central Bank’s SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 6%. 

The Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen draining out amounts of Rs. 7.15 billion and Rs. 8 billion by way of overnight and seven-day repo auctions at weighted average rates of 5.97% and 5.99% respectively. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO remained mostly unchanged at 5.93% and 5.94% respectively.

USD/LKR   

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts continued to trade at Rs. 203 while the overall market remained inactive on Wednesday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 16 November was $ 105.80 million.   

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