Shorter tenure yields dip marginally ahead of weekly T-bill auction
Wednesday, 9 October 2013 00:00
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By Wealth trust Securities
Yields on shorter tenure bond maturities dipped marginally yesterday ahead of today’s weekly Treasury bill auction. Buying interest on bonds with durations close to six months, two years and the three and a quarter year maturity was evident throughout the day as it was seen hitting daily lows of 9.70%, 10.80% and 11.42% respectively against its opening levels of 9.80/90, 10.83/88 and 11.44/46. In addition, activity on the liquid five-year maturity was seen within the levels of 11.65% to 11.67% to close the day at 11.64/67.
At yesterday’s auction, the total offered amount was at Rs. 10 billion with Rs. 1 billion each on the 91-day and 182-day maturities and Rs. 8 billion on the 364-day maturity. The weighted average (WAvg) on the 364-day bill dipped by 5 basis points (bp) last week to 10.52% while all bids on the 91-day and 182-day bills was rejected.
In secondary bill markets, January 2014 bills continued to change hands within the range of 8.80% to 9.00%, May 2014 within the range of 9.80% to 9.90%, August 2014 within the range of 10.20% to 10.30% while the 364-day bill changed hands at 10.44% to close the day at 10.43/45.
Meanwhile in money markets, surplus liquidity remained broadly steady at Rs. 16.78 billion as the Central Bank mopped up an amount of Rs. 3.20 billion through its Open Market Operations at a WAvg yield of 7.98% for a period of seven days, and a further amount of Rs. 13.58 billion at its policy rate of 7.00%.
The average overnight call money and repo rates remained mostly unchanged at 8.40% and 7.93% respectively.
Rupee dips marginally
Importer led demand saw the rupee close the day marginally lower yesterday at Rs. 131.21/23 against its previous day’s closing of Rs. 131.15/17. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (7 October 2013) stood at $ 66.85 million.
Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were 1-Month: Rs. 132.10, 3-Months: Rs. 133.77 and 6-Months: Rs. 136.27.
