Fresh trading week starts on a positive note

By Wealth Trust Securities 

The fresh trading week commenced on a positive note as yields in the secondary bond market decreased marginally yesterday. Yields on the liquid maturities of 15.09.27, 01.05.28 and 15.05.30 dipped to intraday lows of 15.00%, 15.10% and 15.05% respectively against its previous day’s closing levels of 15.00/50 and 15.30/50 each respectively.  

In the secondary bill market, August/October/November 2023 and January/March 2024 maturities changed hands at levels of 17.00% to 20.75% and 18.00% to 18.25% respectively.   The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 14 July 2023 was Rs.18.42 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Rs.103.86 billion at weighted average rates of 11.80% and 12.00% respectively while an amount of Rs.98.05 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 12.00%. The net liquidity deficit stood at Rs.189.20 billion yesterday.                                                           

  The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo were registered at 11.86% and 12.00% respectively.

Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day at Rs.322.00/324.00 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs.319.50/321.00 yesterday, subsequent to trade within the range of Rs.322.00 to Rs.324.00.  The total USD/LKR traded volume for 14 July was US $ 66.20 million. 

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