Bond market activity dries up

Tuesday, 3 September 2019 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The trading week commenced on a sluggish note as activity in the secondary bond market came to a standstill yesterday due to most market participants opting to stay on the sidelines. The only trades witnessed were in the secondary bill market with the July and August 2020 maturities changing hands at levels of 8.08% and 8.15% to 8.25% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volumes for 30 August was Rs. 8.99 billion.

Meanwhile in money markets, the overnight call money and repo rates averaged at 7.49% and 7.50% respectively as the Open Market Operations (OMO) Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen infusing an amount of Rs.13.00 billion at a weighted average of 7.49%, by way of an overnight reverse repo auction.

However, Rs. 6 billion of outright purchases of Treasury bills for durations of 304 days to 325 days were unsuccessful as no bids were received. The overnight net liquidity shortfall in the system stood at Rs.9.46 billion yesterday.

Rupee losses

In Forex markets, the spot rate was seen depreciating yesterday to close the day at Rs.179.75/00 when compared against its previous day’s closing levels of Rs. 179.00/30.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 30 August was $ 56.42 million

Given are some forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market: one month – 180.30/60; three months – 181.40/70; six months – 183.00/40.