Treasury bill auction accepted volume close to 100%

• Demand for 91-day bill continues

By Wealth Trust Securities

The total accepted volume at yesterday weekly Treasury bill auction just fell short of its total offered amount by only Rs. 480 million as Rs. 84.52 billion was accepted in total against an offered volume of Rs. 85 billion. Unsurprisingly, the 91-day bill represented 95.78% of the total accepted amount while its weighted average increased by 04 basis points to 33.14%.

The weighted average rates on the less demanded 182-day and 364-day bills stood at 32.53% and 29.55% respectively while their phase 2 will be opened at their weighted average rates until close of business on the day prior to settlement (i.e., 3.30 p.m. on 10.11.22).

In the secondary bill market, 18 November 2022 and 02 December 2022 maturities were seen changing hands at 29.75% to 30.50% and 29.00% to 30.00% respectively, while the bond market remained at a standstill.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 08 November was Rs. 0.5 billion.   

In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs. 324.90 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs. 341.14 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 14.50% against an amount of Rs. 666.04 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Lending Facility Rate) of 15.50%. The weighted average rate on overnight Call money and Repo rates stood at 15.50% each.

The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of a 61- and 90-day reverse repo auctions for volumes of Rs. 20 billion and Rs. 30 billion respectively at weighted average rates of 28.00% and 30.00%, valued today.

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the middle rate for USD/LKR spot contracts remained steady for a third consecutive day at Rs. 363.50 yesterday.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 08 November was $ 87.77 million.  

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