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Thursday Dec 12, 2024
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By Wealth Trust Securities
The intentions of profit taking saw secondary market bond yields increasing marginally yesterday as the liquid maturities of 01.07.25 and 2027’s (i.e., 01.05.27 and 15.09.27) hit intraday highs of 32.10%, 28.90% and 29.00% respectively against its previous day’s closing level of 31.85/90, 28.65/70 and 28.70/80.
In the secondary bill market, January and February 2024 maturities changed hands at levels of 27.10% to 27.40%.
The Weekly Treasury bill auction due today, will have in total an amount of Rs. 75 billion on offer, a reduction of Rs. 10 billion over its previous week. This will consist of Rs. 35 billion on the 91-day maturity and Rs. 20 billion each on the 182-day and 364-day maturities. At last week’s auction, weighted average rates on the 91-day and 182-day maturities decreased by 05 basis points each to 29.83% and 28.67% respectively while the weighted average rate on the 364-day maturity decreased by 01 basis point to 27.71%. An amount of Rs.78.05 billion was accepted in total against its total offered amount of Rs. 85 billion.
Separately the National Consumer Price Index -NCPI (Base;2021=100) or National inflation for the month of January came in at 53.2% on its point to point as against 59.2% recorded in December on the NCPI (Base; 2013=100).
The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 20th February 2023 was Rs. 10.26 billion.
In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and REPO stood at 15.50% each while an amount of Rs. 170.51 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 15.50%.
Forex Market
In the Forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts remained steady for the sixth consecutive day at Rs. 361.92.
The total USD/LKR traded volume for 20th February was $ 25.26 million.
(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)
