Bond market yields remain broadly steady

• Rupee appreciates marginally

By Wealth Trust Securities

The start of a new trading week saw secondary market bond yields remain mostly unchanged yesterday. Activity was witnessed on the 15.09.27 maturity at levels of 26.40% to 26.50%. In addition, trades were reported on the 01.07.32 maturity within the range of 22.00% to 23.50%. In secondary bills, June and July 2023 and the latest 91-day bill changed hands at levels of 23.30% to 23.75% and 25.00% to 25.25% respectively while March and May 2024 bills at a level of 22.70%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 19 May 2023 was Rs. 10.99 billion.

In money markets, the DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of 7-day and 31-day reverse repo auctions for a total volume of Rs. 20.75 billion at weighted average rates of 16.50% and 19.87% respectively.

The weighted average rates on overnight call money and REPO stood at 16.47% and 16.50% respectively while an amount of Rs. 111.84 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 16.50%.

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts appreciated once again yesterday to close the day at Rs. 305.40/305.80 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 306.50/307.00, subsequent to trading at a high of Rs. 305.60 to a low of Rs. 306.50.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 19 May was $ 40.55 million.

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