The 364-day bill weighted average remains unchanged

Thursday, 26 September 2019 02:19 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Bond yields dip marginally

By Wealth Trust Securities

The 364-day bill weighted average was seen holding steady at 8.41% at its weekly Treasury bill auction conducted yesterday following three consecutive weeks of increases.

Similarly, the 182-day bill weighted average remained steady at 7.75%, which was accepted after a lapse of one week. However, the 91-day bill, which was also accepted after a lapse of one week, recorded a one basis point increase to 7.62%. The total offered amount of Rs. 20 billion was fully met at the auction despite the bids-to-offer ratio dipping to 2.48:1.

In the secondary bond market, buying interest saw yields on the liquid maturities of 2021s (i.e. 01.05.21, 01.08.21, 15.10.21 and 15.12.21), 15.03.23, 2024s (i.e. 15.06.24 and 15.09.24) and 15.09.34 dipping to intraday lows of 8.60%, 8.65%, 8.75%, 8.77%, 9.80%, 10.20%, 10.24% and 10.85% respectively. In the secondary bill market, the 17 July 2020 bill changed hands at levels of 8.20%, pre-auction. The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 24 September 2019 was Rs. 2.87 billion.

In the money market, the Open Market Operations (OMO) Department of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of outright purchases of Treasury bonds for the maturities of 01.05.21, 01.08.21 and 15.12.21, valued today. The auction injected an amount of Rs. 8.4 billion in total at weighted average rates of 8.60%, 8.67% and 8.77% respectively for the said maturities.

The overnight call money and repo rates averaged 7.43% and 7.47% respectively as the overnight net liquidity surplus in the system increased further to Rs. 22.37 billion yesterday.

Rupee losses once again

The USD/LKR rate on spot depreciated once again yesterday to close the day at levels of Rs. 181.55/65 against its previous day’s closing levels of Rs. 181.10/30 on the back of buying interest by banks.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 24 September was $ 89.23 million

Given below are some forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market,

1 Month - 182.05/20

3 Months - 183.05/25

6 Months - 184.80/10