Bond market remains active

Friday, 7 June 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market remained active yesterday, as yields of the liquid maturities consisting of 01.10.22, 15.07.23, 15.03.24, 01.08.26 and 15.01.27 spiked to intraday highs of 10.10%, 10.15%, 10.35%, 10.55% and 10.60%, against its previous day’s closing levels of 9.90/00, 10.00/10, 10.10/20, 10.40/50 and 10.50/55. Furthermore, activity was also witnessed of maturities such as the 01.05.20, 2021’s (i.e. 01.03.21, 01.05.21, 01.08.21 and 15.12.21), two 2023’s (i.e. 15.05.23 & 15.12.23) and 15.05.30 within the range of 8.85% to 9.00%, 9.50% to 9.70%, 10.12% to 10.22% and 10.90% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volumes for 4 June was Rs. 9.79 billion.

In money markets, the net liquidity surplus remained high at Rs. 32.91 billion with overnight call money and repo rates averaging 7.99% and 8.10% respectively. The OMO Department of the Central Bank drained out an amount of Rs. 15.00 billion on an overnight basis by way of a repo auction at a weighted average of 7.88%.

Rupee appreciates marginally

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day marginally higher at Rs. 176.35/45 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 176.45/55 on the back of selling interest by banks.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 4 June was $ 82.80 million.

Some forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were: 1 Month - 177.15/35; 3 Months - 178.70/90; 6 Months - 180.90/10.