Debt market focus shifts to the 182-day bill

• Weighted averages continue to decline
• Bond yields decreased further

By Wealth Trust Securities

The accepted amount on either the 182-day or 364-day maturity was seen exceeding the 91-day for the first time in 29 weeks as a volume of Rs. 35.47 billion was accepted on the 182-day bill against a volume of Rs. 22.73 billion on the 91-day bill out of a total offered and accepted volume of Rs. 60 billion at its auctions conducted yesterday. The 182-day bill represented 59.12% of the total acceptance volume. Weighted averages on all three maturities were seen declining for a fourth consecutive week, led by the 91-day bill which recorded a steep decline of 30 basis points to 7.23%. This was closely followed by the 182- and 364-day bills, recording dips of five and four basis points respectively to 7.97% and 8.12. The bids-to-offer ratio stood at 2.69:1. 

In the secondary bond market, yields were seen decreasing further with the maturities of 2026’s (i.e., 15.01.26 and 01.02.26), 15.01.27, 01.09.28, and 15.03.31 hitting lows of 10.19%, 10.20%, 10.71%, 11.15% and 11.78% respectively against its previous day’s closing levels of 10.20/24, 10.20/28, 10.72/75, 11.20/40 and 11.80/85. In addition, maturities of 15.12.23, 15.03.24 and 15.05.30 traded at levels of 8.75%, 9.15% and 11.60% to 11.63% respectively. 

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 30 November was Rs. 4.51 billion.   

In money markets, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen draining out amounts of Rs. 35 billion and Rs. 17.50 billion by way of overnight and seven-day repo auctions respectively at weighted average rates of 5.98% and 5.99% while an amount of Rs. 71.78 billion was deposited at the Central Bank’s SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 5%. The net liquidity deficit decreased marginally to Rs. 218.33 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 342.61 billion was withdrawn from the Central Bank’s SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 6%. The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo remained mostly unchanged at 5.92% and 5.97% respectively. 

 USD/LKR   

In USD/LKR market continued to remain inactive.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 30 November was $ 80 million.   

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