Secondary bond markets remain active as yields seesaw
Tuesday, 28 January 2014 00:01
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By Wealth Trust Securities
Activity in secondary bond markets continued to remain high yesterday as yields were seen fluctuating throughout the day mainly on the liquid two 2018 maturities (i.e. 1 April 2018 and 15 August 2018) within the range of daily lows of 8.83% and 8.92% respectively to highs of 9.05% and 9.10%. In addition, a limited amount of activity was witnessed on the liquid two 2019 maturities as well (i.e. 15 January 2019 and 1 July 19) within the range of 9.20% to 9.25% while in secondary bill markets, December to January maturities were seen changing hands within the range of 7.15% to 7.18%.
The surplus liquidity in money markets on an overnight basis stood at Rs. 56.33 billion yesterday, as the Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central bank mopped up an amount of Rs. 1.75 b from the system on a four day basis by way of a Repo auction at a weighted average (WAvg) of 6.70% while a further amount of Rs. 54.58 b was deposited at CBSL’s Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 6.50%.
The OMO department was seen carrying out two further term repo auctions as well yesterday for Rs. 10 b each for durations of 31 days and 59 days in order to mop up liquidity on a more permanent basis.
However, only an amount of Rs. 5 b was drained out at a WAvg rate of 6.71% on the 31 day duration value dated today as the 59 day auction did not receive any bids.
Rupee depreciates marginally
Meanwhile in Forex markets, the rupee lost ground marginally yesterday to close the day at levels of 130.80/85 on the back of importer demand. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (24 January 2014) stood at US$ 59.20 million.
Some of forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were one month – 131.22; three months –
131.83; and six months – 133.05.
