By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market was at a complete standstill yesterday as market participants continued to be on the side-lines.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 6 October was Rs. 29.35 billion.   

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo remained steady at 5.90% and 5.92% respectively as an amount of Rs. 142.09 billion was withdrawn from the Central Bank’s Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SLFR) of 6.00%. 

The Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka drained out an amount of Rs. 7.05 billion by way of a seven-day Repo auction at a weighted average rate of 5.98% while an amount of Rs. 86.83 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 5.00%. The net overnight liquidity shortfall remained mostly unchanged at Rs. 48.21 billion yesterday.

USD/LKR   

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts traded at levels of Rs. 202.97 to Rs. 202.99 yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 6 October was $ 14.00 million.   

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

Stock market strengthens further