Saturday Nov 30, 2024
Saturday Nov 30, 2024
Wednesday, 24 May 2023 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Wealth Trust Securities
Activity in the secondary bond market moderated yesterday while two-way quotes increased as most market participants opted to be on the sidelines.
Limited trades were witnessed on the 01.05.27 maturity at levels of 26.70% to 26.75% against its previous day’s closing level of 26.40/60. In secondary bills, 07 July and 18 August 2023 maturities changed hands at 24.00% and 25.00% to 25.15% respectively.
Today’s weekly Treasury bill auction will have in total an amount of Rs. 160 billion on offer, a reduction of Rs. 20 billion over last week. This will consist of Rs. 80 billion on the 91-day maturity, Rs. 40 billion each on the 182-day and 364-day maturities.
At last week’s auction, weighted average rates decreased across the board by 33, 20 and 35 basis points to 25.47%, 25.22% and 22.79% on the three maturities respectively. The full offered amount of Rs. 180.00 billion was accepted at the 1st phase of the auction while a further amount of Rs.21.29 billion was raised at its phase II.
The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 22 May 2023 was Rs. 6.51 billion.
In money markets, the net liquidity shortfall stood at Rs. 104.33 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 0.15 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 15.50% against an amount of Rs. 104.48 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 16.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight call money and REPO stood at 16.49% and 16.50% respectively.
Forex Market
In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts appreciated further yesterday to hit intraday high Rs. 304.60 before closing the day at Rs.304.40/304.60 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 305.40/305.80.
The total USD/LKR traded volume for 22 May was $ 39.50 million.
(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)
