Bond market activity moderates

By Wealth Trust Securities

The activity in the secondary bond market moderated once again yesterday as yields closed the day broadly steady ahead of today’s weekly Treasury bill auction. Two trades were witnessed on the maturities of 01.07.22 and 01.01.24 at 5.55% and 6.20% respectively.

Today’s bill auction will see Rs.40 billion on offer, consisting of Rs.8.5 billion on the 91 day, Rs.12.5 billion on the 182 day and a further Rs.19 billion on the 364 day maturities. The stipulated cut off rates was published at 4.67%, 4.78% and 5.00% on the 91, 182 and 364 day maturities respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volumes for 07th December 2020 was Rs.9.83 billion.   

The overnight call money and repo averaged 4.54% and 4.57% respectively yesterday while net surplus liquidity stood at a high of Rs.240.67 billion.

Rupee unchanged

The USD/LKR rate on spot next contracts was seen closing the day broadly unchanged at Rs.186.30/70 yesterday on the back of an equilibrium market.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 07th December 2020 was US $ 73.74 million.   

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