Bond yields edge up marginally

• Rs. 98 billion bill auction in focus

By Wealth Trust Securities

The new trading week commenced on a dull note as activity in the secondary bond market moderated on Monday. Limited activity was witnessed on the liquid maturities of 01.06.25, 01.05.27 and 15.01.28 as its yields edged up to trade at levels of 20.21% to 20.25%, 20.00% and 20.17% to 20.25% respectively. Today’s bill auction will have on offer Rs. 98 billion, consisting of Rs. 45 billion on the 91 day, Rs. 25 billion on the 182 day and a further Rs. 28 billion on the 364 day maturities. At last week’s auction, the weighted average rates on the three maturities decreased by 84, 71 and 62 basis points respectively to 21.91%, 22.89% and 23.13%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 10 June 2022 was Rs. 27.43 billion.  

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 548.73 billion on Monday as an amount of Rs. 200.68 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 13.50% against an amount of Rs. 749.42 billion withdrawn from Central Bank’s SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 14.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO stood at 14.50% each.

Forex market 

In the forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts depreciated to Rs. 360.8338 on Monday against its previous Friday’s Rs. 360.8000.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 10 June 2022 was $ 35.64 million. 

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