Bond market activity moderates

Tuesday, 17 September 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The start of a fresh week saw activity in the secondary bond market moderate yesterday. Selling interest in morning hours of trading saw yields on the 15.09.24 and 15.09.34 maturities increase marginally to intraday highs of 10.40% and 11.00% respectively.

However, buying interest at these levels later in the day saw yields dip marginally once again, to close the day mostly unchanged against its previous days closings. In the secondary bill market, May and September 2020 maturities were traded at 8.30% and 8.30% to 8.40% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volumes for 9 September was Rs. 3.79 billion.

In money markets yesterday, the overnight call money and repo rates averaged 7.46% and 7.58% respectively as the Open Market Operations (OMO) Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen injecting amounts of Rs. 6.45 billion, Rs. 7.75 billion and Rs. 5 billion respectively on an overnight, seven-day and 14-day basis by way of Reverse Repo auctions at weighted average rates of 7.43%, 7.40% and 7.46%.

It further injected an amount of Rs. 1 billion for Standalone Primary Dealers by way of an overnight reverse repo auction at a weighted average rate of 7.55%. The net overnight liquidity in the system stood at a surplus of Rs. 6.44 billion.

Rupee trades within a narrow range

In Forex markets, the interbank USD/LKR rate on spot contracts were seen trading within a narrow range of Rs. 180.45 to Rs. 180.51 before closing the day at Rs. 180.48/55 against its previous day’s closing levels of Rs. 180.35/45.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 12 September was $ 55.26 million.

Some of the forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were 1 month – 180.90/10; 3 months – 181.90/10 and 6 months – 183.55/85.