G-SEC market remains dull ahead of weekly bill auction

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary Government Securities (G-Sec) market remained dull yesterday ahead of the weekly Treasury bill auctions due today. In the secondary bill market, a trade was seen on the 28 July 2023 maturity at 29.25% while in the secondary bond market, selling interest saw limited trades on the liquid 01.06.25 maturity within the range of 28.25% to 28.40% against its previous day’s closing level of 27.50/28.50.

The weekly Treasury bill auction due today will see a total volume of Rs. 60 billion on offer, a reduction of Rs. 25 billion over its previous week’s total offered volume. This will consist of Rs. 30 billion on the 91-day maturity and Rs. 15 billion each on the 182-day and 364-day maturities. At last week’s auction, the weighted average rate on the 91-day bill increased for the first time in four weeks, recording a jump of 71 basis points to 28.43% while the weighted average rate on the 364-day bill recorded a marginal decrease of 04 basis points to 29.15%. 

The weighted average rate on the 182-day bill remained steady at 28.97%. An amount of Rs. 65.90 billion was accepted in total at the auction while a further amount of Rs. 7.55 billion was raised at its Phase II on the 182 day and 364-day maturities.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 15 August 2022 was Rs. 0.1 billion.   

In money markets, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka conducted auctions for outright sales of Treasury bills totalling Rs. 10 billion for periods of 37-days and 44-days. However, only an amount of Rs. 0.03 billion was sold from the 37-day maturity at a weighted average rate of 24.00% while no bids was received for the 44-day maturity.

The weighted average rate on overnight REPO stood at 15.50% while the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 449.51 billion yesterday. An amount of Rs. 287.06 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 14.50% while an amount of Rs. 736.57 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 15.50%.

Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts depreciated marginally yesterday to Rs. 360.9733 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 360.92.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 15 August 2022 was $ 4.62 million.  

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