Money market liquidity improves considerably

Wednesday, 11 January 2023 00:05 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}


  • Activity increases ahead weekly Treasury bill auction
  • DOD injects more liquidity

By Wealth Trust Securities


The overnight net liquidity deficit in the money market was seen decreasing further yesterday as it was recorded at Rs. 112.91 billion against its previous days of Rs. 155.85 billion. 

An amount of Rs. 350.33 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 14.50% against an amount of Rs. 463.24 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 15.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and Repo remained steady at 15.50% each.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank further injected liquidity by way of a 30-day and 60-day reverse repo auctions for volumes of Rs. 60 billion and Rs. 30 billion respectively at weighted average rates of 28.50% and 29.13%, valued today. Meanwhile, activity in secondary bond market picked up yesterday as the liquid maturities of 01.05.24, 15.01.25 and 15.05.26 changed hands at levels of 31.90% to 32.00%, 31.06% to 31.20% and 30.57% to 30.80% respectively. In addition, the 15.01.28 maturity traded at levels of 28.00% to 28.25% as well.

Today’s weekly Treasury bill auction will have in total an amount of Rs. 88 billion on offer, a decrease of Rs. 10 billion over its previous week. This will consist of Rs. 50 billion on the 91-day maturity, Rs. 20 billion on the 182-day maturity and a further Rs. 18 billion on the 364-day maturity. At last week’s auction, the total offered amount of Rs. 98 billion was fully subscribed at its First phase of the auction while a further amount of Rs. 24.50 billion was taken at its Second phase. 

The weighted average rates on all three maturities decreased, with the 91-day bill recording a drop of 63 basis points to 32.01%. The weighted average rates on the 182-day and 364-day maturities decreased by 18 and 11 basis points respectively to 32.02% and 29.16%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 09 January was Rs.18.12 billion.  



 Forex Market 

In the Forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts appreciated yesterday to Rs. 362.2446 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 363.0917.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 09 January was $ 78.40 million.  

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

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