Bond market activity remains moderate ahead of weekly T-Bill auction

Wednesday, 31 May 2023 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Rupee appreciates

By Wealth Trust Securities Ltd

The activity levels in the secondary bond market remained moderate yesterday with limited trades seen on the maturities of 15.05.26 and two 2027’s (i.e., 01.05.27 & 15.09.27) at levels of 28.50% and 26.40% to 26.70% respectively.

This was ahead of today’s weekly Treasury bill auction, where a total amount of Rs. 160 billion will be on offer, consisting of Rs. 75 billion on the 91 day, Rs. 35 billion on the 182 day and Rs. 50 billion on the 364-day maturities. At last week’s auction, weighted averages increased to 25.66%, 25.30% and 22.97% on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day maturities respectively. An amount of Rs.124.87 billion was accepted at the 1st phase of the auction against a total offered amount of Rs. 160 billion while a further amount of Rs. 24.55 billion was raised at its phase II. The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 29 May 2023 was Rs. 14.69 billion.

In money markets, the net liquidity shortfall stood at Rs.22.87 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 77.96 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 15.50% against an amount of Rs. 100.82 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 16.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight call money and REPO stood at 16.44% and 16.50% respectively.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of a 30-day reverse repo auction for a volume of Rs.3.0 billion at weighted average rate of 19.13%, valued today.

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts appreciated yesterday to hit an intraday high Rs. 293.85 before closing the day at Rs. 293.50/294.50 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 296.50/297.50.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 29 May was $ 40.25 million.

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

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