Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Monday, 4 May 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Wealth Trust Securities
The secondary bond market remained active during the week ending 30 April, with yields initially decreasing leading up to the primary Treasury bond auctions. The liquid maturities of 01.10.22, 2023’s (i.e. 15.03.23 and 15.12.23), 2024’s (i.e. 15.03.24, 15.06.24 & 15.09.24), 15.03.25 and 15.10.27 dipped to weekly lows of 7.85%, 8.12%, 8.15%, 8.50%, 8.53%, 8.50%, 8.65% and 8.85%, respectively, against its previous week’s closing levels of 8.00/10, 8.25/35, 8.40/50, 8.65/73, 8.65/75, 8.65/72, 8.75/65 and 8.95/02. However, subsequent to auction results, where weighted average yields of the 15.01.23, 01.05.25 and 15.10.27 were recorded at 8.14%, 8.75% and 8.88%, respectively, selling interest drew yields up once again, trimming most of its weekly decline. Furthermore, the 15.07.23 and 01.05.25 maturities were traded at levels of 8.25% and 8.80% to 8.82%, respectively, post auction.
The weighted average yields of the weekly Treasury bill auction remained steady at 6.75%, 6.80% and 7.00% on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day maturities, respectively, while foreign selling of rupee bonds persisted with an outflow of Rs. 0.6 billion during the week ending 30 April.
The inflation figure for the month of April reflected a further decrease for a second consecutive month to 5.2% on its point to point in comparison to its previous month’s figure 5.4%. However the annual average increased to 4.8%.
The shortened trading week commencing 4 May will see Rs. 30 billion on offer at the weekly Treasury bill auction, consisting of Rs. 8 billion of the 91-day maturity, Rs. 6 billion of the 182-day maturity and further Rs. 16 billion of the 364-day maturity.
In money markets, the overall net liquidity surplus was seen increasing to Rs. 96.35 billion by the end of the week against its previous week of Rs. 82.13 billion. The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity during the week by way of 14-day reverse repo auctions at weighted average yields ranging from of 6.55% to 6.93%. The weighted averages on overnight call money and repo rates decreased further to average 6.41% and 6.53%, respectively, for the week.
USD/LKR
In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts traded within the range of Rs. 192 to Rs. 192.80 during the week.
The daily USD/LKR average traded volume for the first three days of the week stood at $ 46.79 million.
(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)
