Bond market remains active 

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market remained active yesterday, as yields of the liquid maturities consisting of  01.10.22, 15.07.23, 15.03.24, 01.08.26 and 15.01.27 spiked to intraday highs of 10.10%, 10.15%, 10.35%, 10.55% and 10.60%, against its previous day’s closing levels of 9.90/00, 10.00/10, 10.10/20, 10.40/50 and 10.50/55. Furthermore, activity was also witnessed of maturities such as the 01.05.20, 2021’s (i.e. 01.03.21, 01.05.21, 01.08.21 and 15.12.21), two 2023’s (i.e. 15.05.23 & 15.12.23) and 15.05.30 within the range of 8.85% to 9.00%, 9.50% to 9.70%, 10.12% to 10.22% and 10.90% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volumes for 4 June was Rs. 9.79 billion. 

In money markets, the net liquidity surplus remained high at Rs. 32.91 billion with overnight call money and repo rates averaging 7.99% and 8.10% respectively. The OMO Department of the Central Bank drained out an amount of Rs. 15.00 billion on an overnight basis by way of a repo auction at a weighted average of 7.88%.

 Rupee appreciates marginally

 In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day marginally higher at Rs. 176.35/45 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 176.45/55 on the back of selling interest by banks.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 4 June was $ 82.80 million.

Some forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were: 1 Month - 177.15/35; 3 Months - 178.70/90; 6 Months - 180.90/10.