Bond market continues to be active, yields dip further; Rupee steady

 By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market remained active yesterday with yields edging down on selected maturities. Accordingly, buying interest on 15.01.27, 15.09.27 and 15.05.2030 maturities saw it change hands at intraday lows of 13.85%, 13.95% and 14.07% respectively. 

In addition, maturities of 01.07.25, two 26’s (15.05.26, 01.06.26), two 28’s (01.05.28, 15.12.28) and 01.07.32 changed hands at levels of 13.53% to 13.50%, 14.00% to 13.90%, 14.15% to 14.05% and 14.20% to 14.17% respectively.

In secondary market bills, January, April and June 2024 maturities were seen trading at 13.25%, 14.45% to 14.35% and 14.20% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 13 December was Rs. 114.70 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 9.10% and 9.86% respectively while the net liquidity stood at a deficit of Rs. 24.93 billion yesterday.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight Repo auction for Rs. 27.25 billion at a weighted average rate of 9.08%. An amount of Rs. 31.09 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 10.00% while an amount of Rs. 33.40 billion was deposited at the Central Bank’s SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 09.00%.

Forex market 

In the forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day broadly steady at Rs. 326.65/326.90 yesterday against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 326.70/326.80.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 13 December was $ 51.30 million. 

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