Bond market muted; NCPI jumps to exceed 16%

By Wealth Trust Securities

The National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) for the month of January was seen leaping to 16% on its point to point to reach a high of 16.8% at its announcement yesterday in comparison to its previous month of 14%. 

The annual average also increased to 8.1% against 7.00%.

The bond market commenced the trading week on a dull note yesterday. Trades were only witnessed on the 15.03.24, 01.02.26 and 15.06.27 maturities at levels of 10.40%, 11.65% and 12.02% to 12.04% respectively. 

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 18 February 2022 was Rs. 3.36 billion.   In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 587.93 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 57.58 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 5.50% against an amount of Rs. 645.51 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 6.50%.

The Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen injecting an amount of Rs. 75.00 billion by way of a 28 day reverse Repo auction at a weighted average rate of 7.73%, valued today.

The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO remained steady at 6.48% and 6.50% respectively.

Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on tom contracts traded within the range of Rs. 202.50 to Rs. 202.90 yesterday while the overall market remained inactive. 

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 18 February 2022 was $ 78.70 million.   

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