Secondary market bond activity increases as yields edge up further
Tuesday, 18 March 2014 00:01
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By Wealth Trust Securities
Secondary market Treasury bond yields edged up further yesterday as selling interest resulted in yields closing the day higher in comparison to its Friday’s closing levels as activity increased. Considerable volumes of the liquid two 2018 maturities (i.e. 01.04.2018 and 15.08.2018) were seen changing hands within the range of 8.90% to 9.00% and 8.98% to 9.05% respectively closely followed by the five year maturity of 01.07.2019 within the range of 9.15% to 9.25% and the seven year maturity of 01.05.2021 with 10.00% to 10.10%. Nevertheless, continued buying interest on secondary market bills saw May 2014 bills quoted within the range of 6.60% to 6.65%, November 2014 within 6.90% to 6.95%, December within 6.95% to 7.00% and the latest 364 day bill within 7.00% to 7.05%.
Meanwhile in money markets, the Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank was seen mopping up liquidity on a four day basis for an amount of Rs. 9.69 billion at a weighted average of 6.66% while a further Rs. 12.27 billion was deposited at CBSL’s Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 6.50%. This in turn helped overnight call money and repo rates remain steady to average 6.90% and 6.39% respectively as surplus liquidity stood at Rs. 21.96 billion yesterday.
Rupee remains steady
In Forex markets, the rupee remained mostly unchanged to close the day at levels of Rs. 130.60/65 against its previous closing of Rs. 130.58/64. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (14 March 2014) stood at $ 40.90 million.
Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were 1-Month: Rs. 131.20, 3-Months: Rs. 132.23 and 6-Months: Rs. 133.68.
