Bond market activity moderates; yields marginally up

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market commenced the week on a lethargic tone yesterday, with yields edging up slightly on the lack of impetus.

Limited trades were seen on the maturities of the 01.06.25, 15.05.26, 15.09.27 and 01.05.28 at levels of 13.45%, 13.00%, 12.95% to 13.16% and 13.00% to 13.15% respectively.

In secondary bills, November 2023 traded at 16.70% to 17.05%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 11 August was Rs. 39.06 billion.

In money markets, the DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of overnight and seven-day reverse repo auctions for a total volume of Rs. 125.7 billion at weighted average rates of 11.46% and 12.00% respectively while an amount of Rs. 101.49 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 12.00%. The net market liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 223.89 billion yesterday.

The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo were registered at 11.50% and 12.00% respectively.

Forex market 

In the forex market, the Rupee or USD/LKR rate on spot contracts depreciated marginally to close trading yesterday at Rs. 321.00/322.00 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 319.50/320.50.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 11 August was $ 74.25 million.

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