Bond yields continue to edge down

• Rs. 66 b on offer at weekly auction

The secondary market bond yields continued to edge down across the curve yesterday as the maturities of 01.12.24, 15.03.25, 15.01.27 and 15.05.30 dipped to intraday lows of 8.95%, 9.37%, 10.12% and 11.20% respectively. In secondary bills, 3 June 2022 maturity traded at levels of 7.80% to 7.82%.

The weekly bill auction due today will see a total volume of Rs.66 billion on offer, an increase of Rs. 6 billion against its previous weeks total offered volume. This will consist of Rs. 18 billion on the 91 day maturity and Rs. 24 billion each on the 182 day and the 364 day maturities. At last week’s auction, weighted average rates on all three maturities decreased for a fourth consecutive week to 7.23%, 7.97% and 8.12% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 6 December was Rs. 4.10 billion.   

In money markets, the weighted average rates on call money and repo remained steady at 5.92% and 5.97% respectively as an amount of Rs. 370.83 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks Standard Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of 6.00%.

Furthermore, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen draining out amounts of Rs. 40.00 billion and Rs. 3.00 billion by way of overnight and 7 day repo auctions at weighted average rates of 5.99% each while an amount of Rs. 82.89 billion was deposited at Central Banks Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 6.00%.

The net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 244.95 billion yesterday.

 

USD/LKR   

 In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts continued to trade within a narrow range of Rs. 202.99 to Rs. 203.00 while the overall market remained inactive yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 6 December was $ 16.15 million.   

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