Activity in secondary bond markets dry up

By Wealth Trust Securities

Activity in secondary bond markets dried up yesterday with quotes on the five year maturities increasing to levels of 11.40%, the highest since end January 2013. In addition, the four year maturity was seen changing hands at levels of 11.40% in thin trading. The 364 day bill was seen been quoted at levels of 11.25/11.32 in secondary markets as well.  Given below are the closing, secondary market yields for the most frequently traded maturities.

In money markets, surplus liquidity remained high at Rs. 43.60 billion as an amount of Rs. 42 billion was mopped up from the system at a WAvg of 8.35% by way of an overnight repo auction. Overnight call money and repo rates remained steady to average 9.43% and 8.54% respectively.

The rupee lost ground by around 20 cents yesterday to close the day at Rs. 126.30 subsequent to hitting an intraday day high of Rs. 126.10. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (15.03.13) stood at US $ 86 million. Given are some forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market: one month –127.50, three months – 129.35 and six months – 132.23