Secondary bond market yields continue to remain broadly steady

Friday, 24 January 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market yields continued to remain broadly steady yesterday as momentum turned bearish. Limited trades of the 01.09.23, 2024s (i.e. 15.03.24, 15.06.24 and 15.09.24) and 15.06.27 maturities took place at levels of 9.30% to 9.32%, 9.50% to 9.54% and 9.73% respectively.

In the secondary bill market, June 2020, July 2020, September 2020, October 2020 and January 2021 maturities were seen changing hands at levels of 7.97%, 8.25%, 8.53% to 8.55% and 8.60% to 8.62% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 22 January 2020 was Rs. 13.30 billion. In money markets, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka refrained from conducting any liquidity management auctions yesterday as the overnight net liquidity surplus in the system stood at Rs. 29.76 billion. The weighted average yields of the overnight call money and repo rates were recorded at 7.48% and 7.51% respectively.

Rupee loses further

The USD/LKR rate on spot contracts was seen deprecating further yesterday to close the day at Rs. 181.50/60 in comparison to the previous day’s closing level of Rs. 181.45/50, on the back of continued buying interest by banks.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 22 January 2020 was $77.30 million.

Some of the forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were one month – 182.00/15; three months – 182.95/15 and six months – 184.50/80.