Bond yields steady as activity moderates; rupee steady

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market commenced the week on a sluggish note yesterday as yields remained broadly unchanged. Limited trades were seen on the maturities of the 01.06.25, 15.09.27, and 15.05.30, 15.05.31 and 01.07.32 at levels of 15.10%, 14.27% to 14.45%, 13.35%, 13.30 and 13.00 respectively.

In secondary bills, October 2023 and November 2023 maturities traded at 18.00% and 18.90 to 19.10%. While an August 2024 maturity changed hands at 14.05%. 

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 04 August 2023 was Rs. 21.74 billion.

In money markets, the DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of overnight and 7-day reverse repo auctions for a total volume of Rs. 100.00 billion at weighted average rates of 11.50% and 12.00% respectively while an amount of Rs.73.65 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 12.00%. The net market liquidity deficit stood at Rs.171.64 billion yesterday.

The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo were registered at 11.62% and 11.91% respectively.

Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the Rupee or USD/LKR rate on spot contracts appreciated marginally to close trading yesterday at Rs.321.00/323.00 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs.322.00/324.00.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 04th August 2023 was $ 45.66 million.

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