Rs. 64 billion on offer at weekly auction; bond market frozen

By Wealth Trust Securities

The Treasury bill auction conducted today will have on offer a total amount of Rs. 64 billion, consisting of Rs. 18 billion on the 91-day, Rs. 22 billion on the 182-day and Rs. 24 billion on the 364-day maturities. 

The stipulated cut-off rate on the 364-day maturity was increased by eight basis points to 6.05%, exceeding the Central Bank’s Standard Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) for the first time since 24 June 2020. The maximum yield rates for the 91-day and 182-day maturities will be decided below the level of the 364-day maturity at the auction. At last week’s auction, weighted average rates on all three maturities increased to 5.92%, 5.95% and 5.96% respectively.

The secondary bond market was frozen yesterday with no two-way quotes witnessed.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 6 September was Rs. 1.33 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit increased marginally to Rs. 185.84 billion yesterday with an amount of Rs. 83.82 billion being deposited at the Central Bank’s SDFR of 5% against an amount of Rs. 269.65 billion withdrawn from the Central Bank’s SLFR of 6%. The weighted average rates on call money and repo stood at 5.95% and 5.87% respectively.

USD/LKR   

In the Forex market, the overall market continued to remain inactive yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 6 September was $ 17.05 million.   

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