Bond market at a standstill

By Wealth Trust Securities 

The secondary bond market was at a standstill yesterday, with most market participants opting to be on the side-lines. In secondary market bills, 28 January, 08 April and 24 June maturities changed hands at levels of 7.05%, 8.00% to 8.25% and 8.20% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 5 January was Rs. 42.98 billion.  

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit was registered at Rs. 332.22 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 141.11 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 5% against an amount of Rs. 473.34 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 6%. The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo averaged 5.94% and 5.97% respectively.

USD/LKR   

In the forex market, the overall market remained inactive yesterday. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 5 January was $ 52.10 million.   

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