Rupee appreciates considerably

• Bond market at a standstill

By Wealth Trust Securities 

The interbank Forex market saw the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts appreciate considerably yesterday to close the day at Rs. 313.00/313.30 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 315.50/316.00, subsequent to trading at a high of Rs. 313.20 to a low of Rs. 314.90 on the back of selling interest on the greenback.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 10 May was $ 75.25 million.  

Meanwhile, activity in the secondary bond market was at a standstill yesterday as majority of market participants opted to be on the sidelines. A trade was witnessed on the 15.06.26 maturity at a level of 30.65%. In secondary bills, August 2023 maturities changed hands at levels of 25.50% to 25.90%. 

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 10 May was Rs. 115.95 billion.

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit was registered at Rs. 105.06 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 106.86 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR facility (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 15.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight call money and REPO stood at 16.43% and 16.50% respectively.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of a 31-day reverse repo auction for a volume of Rs. 1 billion at a weighted average rate of 20.00%.

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