Rs. 45 billion bond auction announced

• Secondary bond market activity picks up; yields mixed 
• Rupee broadly steady

By Wealth Trust Securities

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is due to conduct a round of Treasury bond auctions on Monday, 30 October. 

The auctions will see a total offered amount of Rs. 45 billion. The details of the upcoming auction are given in the table.

For reference, at the previous bond auctions conducted on 12 October, an amount of Rs. 27.50 billion was taken up in total against a total offered amount of Rs. 25.00 billion which included an additional amount offered through the direct issuance window on the 01.08.2026 maturity. The weighted average rates were recorded at 15.24% and 13.56% on the 01.08.2026 and 15.05.2030 maturities respectively.

Meanwhile, the secondary bond market started off yesterday on a dull note with yields edging up. However, activity picked up towards the latter part of the day following the announcement of the forthcoming auction, with some aggressive buying interest driving yields down on selected short tenors. Accordingly, trading was predominantly seen on the liquid maturities of the two 2026’s (i.e., 01.06.26 and 01.08.26) which saw its yields dropping from 15.00% to 14.90%. Additionally, trades were seen on the maturities of 01.06.25, the two 27’s (01.05.27 and 15.09.27) and 01.07.28 at levels of 15.00% to 14.90%, 15.00% and 14.80% respectively as well.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 25 October was Rs. 54.86 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 10.30% and 10.75% respectively while the net liquidity stood at a deficit of Rs. 68.63 billion yesterday.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight and a 31-day reverse repo auctions for Rs. 50.00 billion and Rs. 37.30 billion at a weighted average rate of 10.13% and 13.04% respectively. An amount of Rs. 21.03 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 11.00% and an amount of Rs. 2.40 billion was deposited with the Central Bank’s SLDR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 10.00%.

Forex market 

In the forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day broadly steady at Rs. 326.90/327.25 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 326.60/327.00.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 25 October was $ 36.10 million. 

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