Positive momentum continues in secondary bond market

• Rupee continues to appreciate

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market yesterday saw sentiment remain positive and yields continue to decline on the back of moderate activity.

Accordingly, the 01.026.26 and 01.06.26 maturities saw yields decline from 10.55% to 10.50% and 11.10% to 11.00%, respectively. Similarly, the 15.06.29 maturity hit fresh lows of 12.85% intraday as against opening highs of 12.90%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 21 August was Rs. 30.36 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rate on overnight call money was at 8.59% and repo was at 8.71%.

The net liquidity surplus stood at Rs. 86.66 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 130.98 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 8.25% against an amount of Rs. 4.32 billion been withdrawn from the Central Banks SLFR (Standing Lending Facility Rate) of 9.25%.  

Further, the DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight reverse repo auction for Rs. 40.00 billion at a weighted average rate of 8.54%.

Forex Market

 In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts depreciated further to close the day at Rs. 300.80/301.30 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 300.20/300.60

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 21 August was $ 56.00 million.

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