Bond market activity remains at a standstill 

• Rupee steady

By Wealth Trust Securities

The activity in the secondary bond market was at a standstill yesterday as majority of market participants opted to be on the sidelines. A trade was witnessed on the 15.07.29 maturity at 30.91%. In the secondary bill market, 23 December 2022 and 20 January 2023 maturities changed hands at levels of 31.66% to 32.00% and 32.25% to 32.50% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 19 October 2022 was Rs. 4.71 billion.

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 367.04 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 324.06 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 14.50% against an amount of Rs. 691.09 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 15.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and Repo rates stood at 15.50% each.

Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts remained steady at Rs. 363.38 yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 19 October was $ 25.34 million.  

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