Bond yields steady; market inactive

• CBSL policy rates held steady 

By Wealth Trust Securities

The trading day commenced with the eighth monitory policy announcement for the year 2021, where the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen holding its policy rates steady at 5.00% and 6.00% respectively on its Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) for a second consecutive meeting.

The secondary bond market yields remained broadly steady yesterday as activity was witnessed only on the 01.12.24 maturity at levels of 9.41% to 9.42%. In secondary bills, January, February and May 2022 maturities traded at levels of 7.00% to 7.05%, 7.25% to 7.35% and 7.78% to 7.80% respectively. The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 24 November was Rs. 57.40 billion.    In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo was registered at 5.92% and 5.98% respectively while the net liquidity deficit decreased to Rs. 211.69 billion yesterday. An amount of Rs. 324.56 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR of 6.00% against an amount of Rs. 67.17 billion deposited at Central Banks SLDR of 5.00%. Furthermore, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka drained out an amount of Rs. 45.70 billion by way of an overnight Repo auction at a weighted average rate of 5.99%.

USD/LKR   

In the Forex market, activity remained muted yesterday while the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts traded at a level of Rs. 203.00. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 24 November was $ 71.50 million.   

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