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Saturday Nov 16, 2024
Friday, 4 April 2014 00:48 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Wealth Trust Securities
The news that the Government of Sri Lanka is planning to issue a further $ 500 million by way of a sovereign bond issue saw secondary bond markets continue its bullish trend as yields were seen dipping for a sixth consecutive day as volumes traded remained high.
Activity continued to surround the liquid two 2018 maturities (i.e. 1 April 2018 and 15 August 2018) and the 1 July 2019 maturity as its yields were seen hitting intraday lows of 8.70%, 8.83% and 9.07% respectively against its day’s opening highs of 8.78%, 8.90% and 9.17%. In addition, a limited amount of activity was witnessed on the 15 July 2017 maturity within the range of 8.20% to 8.25% and the 1 May 2021 maturity within 9.93% to 9.95%.
Meanwhile in money markets, the Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank successfully drained out in total an amount of Rs. 24.25 b by way of three term Repo auctions yesterday, for 28 days at a weighted average (WAvg) of 6.70%, 59 days at 6.80% and 77 days at 6.83% respectively.
Overnight call money and Repo rates averaged at 6.98% and 6.59% respectively as surplus liquidity stood at Rs. 4.28 b. The total surplus amount was deposited at CBSL’s Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 6.50% as Central Bank continued to refrain from conducting any auctions under its Open Market Operations (OMO) on an overnight basis.
Rupee appreciates for the first time in seven days
Meanwhile in Forex markets yesterday, the USD/LKR rate appreciated marginally to Rs. 130.60/65 in comparison to previous day’s closing of Rs. 130.70/75 on back of the sovereign dollar bond news and a tight situation in money markets. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (2 April 2014) stood at $ 76.15 million.
Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were: one month – 131.24; three months – 132.38; and six months – 133.83.
