Secondary market bond rates steady

By Wealth Trust Securities

Secondary market bond trading activity dried up significantly yesterday as yields remained steady with the eagerly awaited monetary policy announcement for the month of April due today been postponed to the 16th of April.

Active two way quotes were mainly seen on the 4 year and 5 year maturities at levels of 11.15% - 11.25% and 11.37% - 11.40% respectively. In addition on secondary market bills, durations ranging from 9 months to 12 months were seen trading within the range of 11.10% to 11.30% as well.

Meanwhile in money markets, overnight call money and repo rates remained steady to average 9.44% and 8.57% respectively as surplus liquidity remained high at Rs 46.7 Bn yesterday. An amount of Rs.40.5 billion was mopped up from the system on an overnight basis at a weighted average of 8.35% by way of a Repo auction conducted by the Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank

Rupee gains to one year high

In Forex markets, the rupee continued to appreciate in early hours of trade yesterday to a yearly high of Rs 125.25. However demand at these levels towards the latter part of the day on spot contracts saw the greenback loosing grounds from these levels to close the day within the range of Rs 125.53 – Rs.125.58. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (05-04-13) stood at US $ 84.70 million. Given below are some forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market, 1 Month - 126.63; 3 Months -128.58 and 6 Months -131.41