Bond market activity moderates; yields hold broadly steady

• Rupee steady

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market commenced the week on a subdued note with activity moderating and yields holding broadly steady. 

Accordingly, limited trades were seen on the selected maturities of 01.05.24, two 26’s (15.05.26 and 01.08.26), two 27’s (01.05.27 and 15.09.27) and two 28’s 01.05.28 and 01.07.28) as it changed hands at levels of 14.30%, 14.15% to 13.95% and 14.30% to 14.20% each respectively.

In secondary market bills, January, March and May 2024 maturities were seen trading at 13.25%, 14.30% and 14.10% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 1 December was Rs. 25.56 billion. In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 9.25% and 9.71% respectively while the net liquidity stood at a deficit of Rs. 55.62 billion yesterday.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight Repo auction for Rs. 35.81 billion at a weighted average rate of 9.15%. An amount of Rs. 21.41 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 10.00% while an amount of Rs. 1.60 billion was deposited at the Central Bank’s SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 09.00%.

Forex market 

In the forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day broadly steady at Rs. 328.10/328.30 yesterday against its previous day’s closing level of 

Rs. 328.00/328.10.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 1 December was 

$ 62.90 million. 

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