Weekly weighted averages drop; auction fully subscribed

Thursday, 26 May 2022 00:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The weekly Treasury bill auction produced an impressive outcome, as weighted averages dipped on all three maturities while the auction was fully subscribed after a lapse of two weeks.

The market favourite 3 month bill maturity recorded a fall of 42 basis points to 23.65% while the 6 month and 1 year maturities dipped by 47 and 20 basis points respectively to 24.22% and 24.30%. The total offered amount of Rs. 90 billion was successfully accepted at the auction while its bids to offer ratio increased to a 15 week high of 2.36:1.

In the secondary bond market, limited activity continued on the liquid 01.06.25 maturity at levels of 22.63% to 22.665%. Nevertheless, renewed buying interest in secondary bills, post auction results, saw the latest 3 month, 6 month and 1 year maturities trading at lows of 22.00%, 23.50% and 23.75% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 24 May was Rs. 6.8 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO was registered at 14.50% each while the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 523.99 billion yesterday. An amount of Rs. 194.30 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 13.50% while an amount of Rs. 718.29 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s Standard Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of 14.50%.

Forex market

In the forex market, the middle USD/LKR spot contract rate remained steady at Rs. 359.3764 yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 24 May was $ 10.00 million.

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