Bond market reverts to its sluggish mode

• CCPI edges up further

By Wealth Trust Securities 

The secondary bond market, following a brief increase in activity last Friday, was seen reverting back to its sluggish mode at the start of a fresh trading week on Monday. A single trade was witnessed on the 01.08.25 maturity at 12.95% while in secondary market bills, 15th April 22 changed hands at 8.60%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 25 February was Rs.12.41 billion.   

In money markets, the overnight net liquidity deficit was registered at Rs.576.88 billion on Monday as an amount of Rs.75.79 billion was deposited at Central Banks Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 5.50% against an amount of Rs.652.67 billion withdrawn from Central Banks Standard Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of 6.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO stood at 6.48% and 6.50% respectively.

The Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) was seen edging up to 15.1% on its point to point for the month of February against 14.2% recorded for January while its annualised rate came in at 7.9% against 6.9%.

Forex market 

In the Forex market, activity remained at a standstill on Monday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 25 February was $ 55.25 million.   

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