Bond market at a standstill

By Wealth Trust Securities

The dull sentiment in the secondary bond market continued at the start of a new trading week yesterday, as activity remained at a complete standstill.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 12 August 2022 was Rs. 2.03 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 468.70 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 288.23 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 14.50% against an amount of Rs. 756.93 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 15.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight REPO stood at 15.50%.

Furthermore, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka conducted auctions for outright sales of Treasury bills totalling Rs. 10 billion for periods of 45 days and 52 days yesterday. An amount of Rs. 0.3 billion was accepted from the 45-day maturity at a weighted average rate of 24.28% while all bids received were rejected on the 52-day maturity.

Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts was at Rs. 360.92 yesterday against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 360.85.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 12 August 2022 was $ 21.72 million.  

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