Secondary market bond activity dries up ahead of policy announcement
Tuesday, 18 November 2014 00:14
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By Wealth Trust Securities
Activity in secondary bond markets came to a standstill yesterday as most market participants were seen on the sidelines ahead of today’s monitory policy announcement for the month of November.
Active two way quotes were seen on the maturities of 15 August 2018, 1 July 2019, 1 July 2022 and 1 January 2024 at levels of 7.05/10, 7.13/18, 7.78/81 and 7.95/00 respectively.
Meanwhile in money markets, overnight call money and repo rates decreased marginally to average 6.00% and 5.49% respectively as excess liquidity stood at Rs. 23.54 billion yesterday.
The Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank was seen mopping up an amount of Rs. 12.07 b by way of a four day repo auction at a weighted average of 5.89%.
Rupee depreciates marginally
In Forex markets, the dollar/rupee (USD/LKR) rate on spot next contracts depreciated marginally yesterday to close the day at Rs. 131.11/13 in comparison to its previous day’s closing levels of Rs. 131.08/10.
The total USD/LKR traded volume for 14 November was at $ 47.60 million.
Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were: one month – 131.63; three months – 132.75; and six months – 134.03.
