Fresh trading week starts on a dull note

Wednesday, 18 January 2023 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The fresh shortened trading week commenced on a dull note yesterday ahead of today’s weekly Treasury bill auction.

The Treasury bill auction will see a total volume of Rs. 95 billion on offer, an increase of Rs. 7 billion over its previous week’s total offered volume. This will consist of Rs. 55 billion on the 91-day maturity, Rs. 20 billion on the 182-day maturity and a further Rs. 20 billion on the 364-day maturity.

At last week’s auction, the total offered amount of Rs. 88 billion was accepted at the auction while a further amount of Rs.22 billion was raised at its phase II. The weighted average rate on the 91-day maturity decreased by 86 basis points to 31.15% while on the 182-day and 364-day maturities it decreased by 65 and 12 basis points respectively to 31.37% and 29.04%.

In limited trades, 15.05.26, 15.09.27 and 01.07.32 bond maturities and January -February, April and July 2023 bill maturities changed hands at levels of 30.90% to 31.00%, 30.00%, 25.25%, 24.00% to 26.00%, 30.50% and 31.37% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 13 January 2023 was Rs. 39.23 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo rates stood at 15.50% and 15.22% respectively as the net liquidity surplus in the system stood at Rs. 156.87 billion yesterday. The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected an amount of Rs. 17.70 billion by way of an overnight Reverse Repo auction at weighted average yield of 15.50%.

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts remained steady at Rs. 362.24 yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 13 January was $ 22.36 million.

(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)