Thursday, 8 January 2015 01:02
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Mixed signals were witnessed at yesterday’s weekly Treasury bill auction as weighted averages on the 91 day and 182 day bills were seen increasing by 02 basis points each to 5.76% and 5.86% respectively while the weighted average on the 364 day bill was seen decreasing by 01 basis point to 6.00% once again.
The total offered amount of Rs. 12 billion was almost but met by accepting more from the 91 day maturity. In secondary market bills, April 2015 bills were quoted within the range of 5.75% to 5.85% and July 2015 at 5.86% to 5.95% while the 364 day was at 5.97% to 6.07%, post auction.
The upward trend in secondary market bond yields was seen continuing as selling interest on the liquid maturities of 15.08.2018, 01.07.2019 and 01.07.2022 was seen increasing to intraday highs of 7.20%, 7.46% and 7.85% respectively. However, buying interest at these levels subsequent to the release of the auction results curtailed any further upward movement.
In money markets, overnight call money and repo rates decreased further to average 6.02% and 5.51% respectively as the Central Bank refrained from conducting any auctions under its Open Market Operations (OMO) for second consecutive day. The surplus liquidity remained high at Rs. 25.48 billion.
Rupee continues depreciating trend
The USD/LKR rate on spot next and spot next-next contracts were seen dipping further yesterday to close the day at Rs. 132.70/85 and Rs 132.75/90 respectively on the back of continued importer demand. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 06th January 2015 was US $ 51.00 million.
Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were 1 month - 133.43; 3 months - 134.30 and 6 months - 135.50.
