Bond market activity picks up; yields down

• Rupee appreciates slightly

By Wealth Trust Securities 

The secondary bond market started the day on a lethargic note yesterday but saw increased activity towards the last hour of trading. A surge in buying interest, led to a significant drop in yields. Trades were seen predominantly on the maturities of the two 26’s (01.06.26 & 01.08.26), and two 28’s (01.05.28 & 01.07.28) at levels of 15.00% to 14.20% and 14.10% to 13.30% and respectively. 

In secondary bills, September and December 2023 maturities traded at levels of 16.00% and 18.16% to 17.00% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 13 September 2023 was Rs. 36.23 billion.

In money markets, the DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight and 28-day reverse repo auctions for volume of 21.70 billion and 9.00 billion at weighted average rates of 11.35% and 14.18% respectively. An amount of Rs. 35.58 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 12.00%. The net liquidity deficit in the market stood at Rs.37.34 billion yesterday.

The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo were registered at 11.48% and 11.55% respectively.

Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the Rupee or USD/LKR rate on spot contracts appreciated marginally, closing trading yesterday at Rs.323.25/323.75 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs.323.50/324.50.The total USD/LKR traded volume for 13th September 2023 was 

$ 26.10 million.