Seasonal mood leads to secondary market bond activity drying up
Thursday, 25 December 2014 00:36
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Activity in secondary bond markets, dried up considerably with yields increasing marginally in thin trades, as most market participants switched to holiday mode. Limited trades were witnessed consisting of the liquid maturities of 01.07.2022 and 01.01.2024 at levels of 7.75% to 7.80% and 7.75% to 7.85% respectively, whilst yields of the two 2018 maturities (i.e. 01.04.2018 and 15.08.2018) continued to remain within the range of 7.00/10 and 7.10/20. In the meantime T-bills maturing in June 2015 and December 2015 continued to be quoted at levels of 5.84/90 and 5.95/05 respectively.
Seasonal mood...
In the money market, overnight call money and repo rates remained steady to average 6.01% and 5.52% respectively as surplus liquidity stood at Rs. 17.99 billion. The Open Market Operations (OMO) department of the Central Bank was seen mopping up an amount of Rs. 10.00 billion on a two day basis at a WAvg of 5.92%.
Rupee continues to trade within a narrow range
The USD/LKR on spot next contracts continued to trade within a narrow span of Rs. 131.99 – Rs. 131.9950. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 23 December 2014 was $ 71.85 million.
Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were 1 month – 132.53; 3 months – 133.40 and 6 months – 134.50.
