Secondary bond market yields decrease ahead of weekly bill auction

Wednesday, 19 December 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market witnessed increased activity yesterday, as yields were seen decreasing during the morning hours of trading mainly consisting of the 15.12.21 and 01.08.26 maturities, to daily lows of 11.72% and 12.00%. However, renewed selling interest at these levels curtailed the downward momentum, with yields easing off marginally to settle at 11.77% and 12.02% respectively. In addition, the 01.03.21, 15.05.23, 15.10.25 and 01.06.26 maturities were seen changing hands at levels of 11.55%, 11.85% to 11.95%, 11.88% to 11.90% and 12.05% to 12.10%. Furthermore, significant volumes of the 22 March 2019 and 12 April bills were seen trading at levels of 10.05% and 10.13%.

At today’s bill auction, a total amount of Rs. 18 billion will be on offer consisting of Rs. 8.0 Billion on the 182 day maturity and Rs. 10.0 billion on the 364 day maturity. At last week’s auction, the weighted average yields of both the 182 day and 364 day bills increased by 02 and 04 basis points to 10.03% and 11.24% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond transacted volume for 17 December was Rs. 9.47 billion.

In money markets, the net liquidity shortfall in the system decreased to Rs. 82.14 billion yesterday with the OMO Department of the Central Bank infusing liquidity by way of an overnight and a seven day term reverse repo auction for successful amounts of Rs. 18.00 billion and 15 billion respectively at weighted average yields of 8.86% and 8.89%. The overnight call money rate averaged 9.00%.

Rupee loses marginally

The USD/LKR rate on spot contracts depreciated marginally to close the day at levels of Rs. 180.10/30 against its previous day’s closing levels of Rs. 179.90/10 on the back of buying interest by banks.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 17 December was $ 139.57 million.

Some of the forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were 1 month - 181.10/50; 3 months - 183.10/50 and 6 months - 186.10/50.

Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event including Valentine ’s Day. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Flower Bouquets, Clothing, Watches, Lingerie, Gift Sets and Jewellery. Also if you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.