Weekly auction fully subscribed for the first time in four weeks

By Wealth Trust Securities 

The weekly Treasury bill auction conducted yesterday was fully subscribed for the first time in four weeks, with the market favourite 91-day bill representing 95.42% or Rs. 71.09 billion of the total offered amount of Rs. 74.50 billion. Its’ weighted average rate increased by 10 basis points to 8.26%. The weighted average rate on the 364-day increased by 15 basis points to 8.39%, while on the 182-day maturity it decreased by three basis points to 8.30%. The bids-to-offer ratio increased to a four-week high of 2.20:1. Given below are the details of the auction,

Nevertheless, secondary bond market activity remained dull yesterday with only the 15.05.30 maturity changing hands at a level of 11.765%. In the secondary bill market, February and March 2022 maturities were traded at levels of 6.85% and 7.75% to 7.85% respectively, pre-auction; while 28 January 2022 and the latest 91-day bills were traded at 7% to 7.05% and 8.30% respectively, post-auction.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 4 January 2022 was Rs. 10.64 billion.  

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo were registered at 5.95% each, while the overnight net liquidity deficit increased to Rs. 312.80 billion yesterday.

An amount of Rs. 122.69 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 5%, whilst an amount of Rs. 435.50 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 6%.

USD/LKR   

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts traded at a level of Rs. 202.97 yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 4 January was US $ 63.30 million.   

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