Bond market frozen; inflation crosses 50% psychological level

By Wealth Trust Securities

The Colombo Consumer Price Index for the month of June catapulted once again to a new high of 54.6% on its point to point against its previous month’s figure of 39.1%. The annual average also increased to 18.4% against 14.2%.

Meanwhile, activity in the secondary bond market was at a complete standstill yesterday due to all market participants been on the side-lines.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 29 June was Rs. 53.64 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 522.78 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 217.59 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 13.50% against an amount of Rs. 740.37 billion withdrawn from Central Bank’s Standard Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of 14.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO stood at 14.50% each.

Forex market 

In the forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts depreciated to Rs. 359.8782 yesterday against its previous day’s Rs. 359.72.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 29 June was $ 6.97 million.  

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