Weekly auction fully subscribed for a second consecutive week

The weekly Treasury bill auction was fully subscribed for a second consecutive week, due to continued demand for the shorter tenure 91-day bill as its accepted amount notched Rs.79.84 billion against a total offered and accepted amount of Rs. 81 billion on all the maturities. 

The 91-day bill weighted average increased by 12 basis points to 8.38% followed by the 182-day and 364-day bills by ten and five basis points respectively to 8.40% and 8.44%. 

Given below are the details of the auction:

Meanwhile, activity in the secondary bond market remained moderate yesterday with the 15.12.27 maturity changing hands at levels of 11.70% to 11.75%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 11 January was Rs. 5.26 billion. In money markets, the net liquidity deficit increased to Rs. 363.95 billion yesterday with an amount of Rs. 63.41 billion being deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 5% against an amount of Rs. 497.26 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 6%. The Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen draining out an amount of Rs. 69.90 billion by way of an overnight auction at a weighted average rate of 5.97%. The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo remained mostly unchanged at 5.94% and 5.98% respectively.

USD/LKR   

In the Forex market, the overall market remained inactive yesterday. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 11 January was $ 56.25 million.   

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