Bond market at a complete standstill

Tuesday, 12 February 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

Activity in the secondary bond market was at a complete standstill yesterday with no trades taking place. The 24 January 2020 Treasury bill was the sole transaction as it changed hands at 10.68%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volumes for 8 February was Rs. 8.53 billion.

In the money market, overnight call money and repo rates averaged 9.00% as the overnight net liquidity shortfall decreased further to Rs. 84.46 billion. The OMO Department of Central Bank infused liquidity by way of an overnight and a seven day term reverse repo auction for successful amounts of Rs. 20.00 billion and 11.50 billion, at weighted average yield of 8.97% and 8.98% respectively.

Rupee closes mostly unchanged

The USD/LKR rate on spot contracts were seen trading within a range of Rs. 177.59 to Rs. 177.78 yesterday before closing at a level of Rs. 177.80/95 against its previous day’s closing levels of Rs. 177.70/85.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 8 February was $ 132.30 million.

Some of the forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were 1 month - 178.65/85; 3 months - 180.55/75 and 6 months - 183.50/80.