Wednesday Nov 13, 2024
Wednesday Nov 13, 2024
Tuesday, 26 March 2013 00:17 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The weighted average yields of Treasury bills continued their upward shift for the fourth consecutive week at the weekly auction held yesterday.
The 364-day and 182-day maturities increased by nine basis points and four basis points respectively whilst bids for the 182-day bill were rejected for the first time in 15 months. Once again it was the 364-day maturity which drew the greatest amounts of bids with 90% or eight billion being accepted against a total auction accepted amount of Rs. 8.8 b.
Subsequent to the outcome of the auction, the secondary bill market witnessed selling pressure, with the 91-day and 364-day bills being quoted at levels of 9.30% to 9.50% and 11.38% to 11.45% respectively.
Furthermore, yields in the secondary bond market too reflected a similar trend with the yields of the two liquid five-year maturities (i.e. 15 August 2018 and 1 April 2018) quoted at intraday highs of 11.45% and 11.50% respectively.
Meanwhile in money markets, the surplus liquidity increased by Rs. 11.4 b to Rs. 24.8 b as the Central Bank mopped up an amount of Rs. 2.6 billion through its Open Market Operations at a weighted average yield of 8.35%, and a further amount of Rs. 22.1 b at the policy rate of 7.50%.
The average overnight call money and repo rates remained mostly unchanged at 9.50% and 8.62% respectively.
The USD/LKR rate closed the day reflecting an appreciated of around 10 cents at Rs. 126.70 yesterday against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 126.80. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (22 March 2013) stood at US$ 32.22 million. Given are some forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market: one month – 127.92; three months – 129.86; and six months – 132.95.
