Bond market activity remains moderate ahead of weekly bill auctions 

By Wealth Trust Securities

The activity in the secondary bond market remained moderate yesterday with limited trades seen on the liquid maturities of 15.12.22, 15.01.23, 01.05.25, 01.02.26 and 15.10.27 within a narrow range of 5.77% to 5.80%, 5.87% to 5.90%, 6.64% to 6.67%, 6.74% and 6.96% to 6.97% respectively. 

A January 2021 maturity was seen changing hands at 5.22% in the secondary bill market. This was ahead of today’s weekly Treasury bill auctions, where a total amount of Rs. 28.5 billion will be on offer, consisting of Rs. 4 billion on the 91 day, Rs. 6 billion on the 182 day and Rs. 18.5 billion on the 364 day maturity. At last week’s auctions, weighted averages dipped to 5.08%, 5.22% and 5.45% on the 91 day, 182 day and 364 day respectively. 

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 6 July was Rs. 11.15 billion.  

The overnight call money and repo rates remained steady to average 5.51% and 5.54% respectively in the money market yesterday while the net liquidity surplus in the system stood at Rs. 164.14 billion.  

 Rupee dips marginally  

In Forex markets, the USD/LKR on spot contracts dipped marginally to close the day at Rs. 185.85/95 yesterday in comparison to its previous day’s closing of Rs. 185.80/90 on the back of buying interest by Banks.  The total USD/LKR traded volume for 6 July was $ 108.58 million.  

(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)