Rs. 90 b Treasury bill auction in focus

Wednesday, 18 May 2022 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The weekly Treasury bill auction due today will see a total volume of Rs.90 billion on offer consisting of Rs.50 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 increased across the board by 59, 84 and 58 basis points on the 91 day, 182 day and 364 day maturities respectively to 24.07%, 24.69% and 24.50%.

Activity in the secondary bond market remained moderate yesterday with only the 01.06.25 maturity changing hands at levels of 22.50% to 22.63%.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 13 May was Rs. 7.11 billion. In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO was registered at 14.50% each while the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 589.63 billion yesterday. An amount of Rs. 173.80 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s Standard Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) of 13.50% while an amount of Rs. 763.42 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s Standard Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of 14.50%.

Forex market

In the forex market, the middle rate for the USD/LKR spot contracts was at Rs. 359.75 yesterday against its previous day’s Rs. 360.00. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 13 May was $ 14.04 million.

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