364 day bill weighted average decreases for a second consecutive week

Thursday, 11 December 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities The weighted average on the 364 day bill decreased by one basis point for a second consecutive week to 5.98% at its weekly Treasury bill auction held yesterday. The same trend was witnessed on the 182 day bill as well as its weighted average dipped by one basis point for the first time in five weeks to 5.83%. The total accepted amount was higher at Rs. 14.50 billion against its initial total offered amount of Rs. 12 billion. Subsequent to the release of the auction results, the decreasing trend in secondary market bond yields witnessed during morning hours of trading came to an halt following the liquid maturities of the two 2018’s (i.e. 1 April 2018 and 15 August 2018), the 1 July 2019 and the 1 July 2022 hitting intraday lows of 7.05%, 7.14%, 7.23% and 8.07% respectively. In secondary bill markets, May and November 2015 maturities continued to be quoted within the range of 5.76% to 5.82% and 5.95% to 6.02% respectively. In money markets, surplus liquidity stood at Rs. 15.11 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 8 billion was drained out by way of a two day term repo auction at a weighted average of 5.91% by the Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank. The weighted averages on overnight call money and repo rates remained mostly unchanged at 5.95% and 5.46% respectively. Rupee trades within a narrow range In the USD/LKR market, the rupee on active spot next-next contracts (forward contracts) traded within a narrow range of Rs. 131.93-131.98 yesterday in the absence of spot and spot next trades. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 9 December was at $ 40.10 million. Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were: one month – 132.58; three months – 133.45; and six months – 134.75.

Rupee forwards end steady; seen gaining

Reuters: Rupee forwards closed steady on Wednesday as importer dollar demand offset greenback selling by exporters and inflows from inward remittances in dull trade, dealers said. Dealers said the currency is expected to gain due to falls in imports and inflows from remittances. The spot currency and three-day forwards, or spot-next, were not traded after the Central Bank capped the currency at predetermined levels to prevent volatility, traders said. Central Bank officials were not available for comments. Dealers said four-day forwards or spot-next-next, which were actively traded, closed steady at 131.95/132.00 per dollar compared with Tuesday’s close. “There was not much of activity today,” said a currency dealer. “We expect the rupee to strengthen a bit from the next week onwards through to the year end.” Overseas investors sold a net Rs. 1.55 billion worth of Government securities during the week ended 3 December, the first outflow in three weeks. They sold a net Rs. 40.2 billion ($ 306.64 million) worth in the 10 weeks through 3 December, data from the Central Bank showed.