Treasury Bill yields up for a second consecutive week

Thursday, 31 August 2023 02:28 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Secondary bond market activity slows down
Rupee appreciates marginally

By Wealth Trust Securities

This week’s Treasury Bill auction conducted on Tuesday due to a holiday yesterday, saw weighted average rates increasing further across the board for a second consecutive week. The increases were registered at 51, 33 and 27 basis points on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day maturities respectively to record weighted averages of 18.48%, 15.36% and 13.58%.

A total of Rs. 108.14 billion or 72% was accepted as against a total offered volume of Rs. 150 billion at the 1st phase of the auction. The 2nd phase of subscription across all three maturities is open until 4:00 p.m. on the business day before the settlement date (i.e., 31.08.2023) at the weighted averages determined at the 1st phase of the auction. Below are the details of the 1st phase of the auction:

Meanwhile, the secondary bond market activity moderated considerably on Tuesday. Trades were seen only on the liquid maturities of 01.08.26 and 01.07.28 at levels of 15.75% to 16.00% and 14.75% to 15.00% respectively. The total secondary market Treasury Bond/Bill transacted volume for 28 August was Rs. 95.78 billion.

In money markets, the DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight reverse repo auction for a volume of Rs. 79.45 billion at a weighted average rate of 11.64% while an amount of Rs. 53.59 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 12.00%. The net liquidity surplus stood at Rs. 51.88 billion yesterday.

The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo were registered at 11.43% and 11.86% respectively.

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts traded within the range of Rs. 321.00 to Rs. 324.00 on Tuesday before closing the day higher at Rs. 320.75/321.75 as against its Monday close of Rs 324.00/324.25.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 29 August was $ 52.00 million.

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