Secondary bond market remains active as yields dip

Tuesday, 7 March 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market remained active yesterday as yields were seen decreasing further on the back of continued buying interest.

The liquid maturities of 15.12.21 and 01.08.26 dipped to intraday lows of 12.92% and 13.02% respectively against its previous day’s closing levels of 12.95/00 and 13.00/10. In addition, the 15.10.18 and 01.07.19 maturities changed hands at levels of 11.62 and 12.22% respectively as well.

In money markets, overnight call money and repo averaged 8.50% and 8.61% respectively as the net deficit in the system stood at Rs. 9.2 billion yesterday. The OMO Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka infused an amount of Rs. 9.00 billion at a weighted average of 8.50%, by way of an overnight reverse repo auction.

Rupee dips

The rupee on active two weeks and one month forward contracts depreciated further yesterday to close the day at levels of Rs. 151.85/95 and Rs. 152.50/60 respectively against its previous day’s closing levels of Rs. 151.70/85 and Rs. 152.35/50 on the back of continued importer dollar demand. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 3 March 2017 was $ 109.34 million. Some of the forward USD/LKR rates that prevailed in the market were three months - 154.50/65 and six months - 157.35/50.