Bond market at a standstill; monitory policy announcement postponed

By Wealth Trust Securities

The new treading week commenced on a dull note as activity in the secondary bond market was at a standstill yesterday due to all market participants opting to be on the sidelines in anticipation of the third monitory policy announcement for the year which was due today at 7.30 a.m. 

However, the said announcement has been postponed until further notice.

The monetary board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka increased its policy rates by 100 basis points to 6.50% and 7.50% respectively on its Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) at its announcement on 4 March.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 1 April was Rs. 5.30 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 591.79 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 100.97 billion was deposited at the Central Bank’s SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 6.50% against an amount of Rs. 692.77 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 7.50%. 

The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO stood at 7.49% and 7.50% respectively.

Forex Market 

The Forex market too remained inactive yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 1 April was $ 23.75 million.  

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