Secondary market yields steady as activity dries up

By Wealth Trust Securities

Activity in secondary bond markets dried up yesterday as yields remained steady with two way quotes mainly seen on the two liquid five year maturities (i.e. 15.08.2018 and 01.04.2018) at levels of 11.14% - 11.18% as Inflation on a point to point basis remained unchanged for the month of February at 9.80%. However the annualized average increased to an all-time high of 8.60% on the new Index which carries a base year of 2007. Furthermore selling pressure on secondary market bills was evident throughout the day with the 364 day bill been quoted at levels of 11.10% - 11.15%.

The Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank drained out an amount of Rs.41.97 Bn at a weighted average of 8.35% by way of an overnight Repo auction yesterday as surplus liquidity in money markets remained high at Rs.47.3 billion. This intern saw Overnight call money and repo rates remain steady to average 9.44% and 8.52% respectively.

Rupee stable for a fourth consecutive day

In Forex markets, the rupee remained mostly unchanged for a fourth consecutive day to close the day at Rs.127.45. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (27-02-13) stood at US $ 37.90 million.