Secondary bond market activity picks up

Friday, 13 September 2013 02:44 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities Secondary market bond activity picked up yesterday following the launch of the NSB dollar bond issue. Once again market activity mainly surrounded the two liquid five-year maturities (i.e. 1 April 2018 and 15 August 2018) as it dipped to intraday lows of 11.95% and 12.00% respectively before closing the day at levels of 11.95/98 and 11.98/00. Furthermore, the two-year maturities were seen changing hands within a range of 11.25% and 11.30%. The 364-day Treasury bills were quoted within the range of 10.55% to 10.65% while January 2014 maturities were quoted in the range of 9.95% -10.05%. The Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank was seen mopping up an amount of Rs. 5 b on an overnight basis by way of a Repo auction at a WAvg of 7.14% while a further Rs. 0.25 b was mopped up for a period of seven days at a WAvg of 7.94% as well. In addition, an amount of Rs. 7.47 b was seen been deposited at CBSL’s Repo window at 7%. Overnight call money and repo rates remained steady to average 8.56% and 8.07% respectively as surplus liquidity in the money markets decreased marginally to Rs. 12.72 b. Rupee gains for a second consecutive day In Forex markets, the rupee continued to appreciate for a second consecutive day to close the day at 132.15/20 in comparison to the previous days losing of 132.50/60. The total USD/LKR traded volume on 11-09-13 stood at US $ 30.60 million. Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were; one month – 133.11; three months – 134.93; and six months – 137.48.