Secondary market Treasury bond yields edge up marginally

By Wealth Trust Securities

Secondary market Treasury yields reflected an upward trend as selling pressure resulted in yields closing the day marginally higher in comparison to Friday’s closing levels.

The two liquid five-year maturities (i.e. 1 April 2018 and 15 August 2018) increased to intraday highs of 11.08% and 11.15% respectively while the four-year maturity was offered at 11.02%.  

In the meantime the eight year maturity was quoted at levels of 11.43/50% and the 364-day maturity within the range of 10.75/10.85%. However, the volumes traded were marginal.

In the money markets, overnight call money and repo rates remained steady at 8.50% and 8.09% respectively with surplus liquidity increasing to Rs. 12.35 b.  The Open Market Operations (OMO) department of Central Bank drained an amount of Rs. 8.73 b at a weighted average of 7.69% by way of an overnight Repo auction.

Furthermore, the CBSL also drained a further Rs. 5 b by way of a term Treasury bill auction with durations of 17 and 31 days, value 11 June. The 17-day bill fetched a weighted average of 8.25%, while the weighted average of the 31-day bill was 8.49%.

 Rupee lost its grounds

 In the Forex markets, the rupee dipped yesterday to an intraday low of Rs. 126.85 from its opening levels of Rs. 126.45/55 on demand for contracts value cash, tom and spot.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (7 June 2013) stood at US$ 56.52 million. Given below are some forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market: one month – 127.65; three months – 129.18; and six months – 131.38.