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Wednesday, 16 October 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The repurchase rate of 6.50% was the lowest level recorded since 1999 while the reverse repurchase rate of 8.50% was the lowest since January 2012.
In secondary bond markets, activity continued to remain very high yesterday mainly surrounding the liquid two maturities of 1 January 2017 and 1 April 2018 within daily highs of 11.10% and 11.20% respectively to a four month low of 10.95% and 11.10%.
In addition, considerable volumes of two illiquid five-year maturities (i.e. 1 February 2018 and 15 November 2018) were seen changing hands within the range of 11.30% to 11.35%. Meanwhile, buying pressure in secondary bill markets saw May 2014 bills trade within the range of 9.25% to 9.40%, June 2014 within the range of 9.60% to 9.75% while the 364-day bill and durations surrounding it was seen changing hands within a low of 10.05% to a high of 10.30%.
Overnight call money and repo rates reflected a dip yesterday in line with the policy rate reduction to average 7.81% and 7.08% respectively. Liquidity remained at a surplus of Rs. 12.69 billion as the Open Market Operations (OMO) department of the Central Bank was seen mopping up an amount of Rs. 2.3 billion for a period of seven days at a weighted average of 7.49% by way of a repo auction while a further amount of Rs. 10.39 billion was seen been deposited at CBSL’s repo window of 6.50%.
Rupee dips marginally
In Forex markets yesterday, the USD/LKR rate lost ground marginally by 27 cents to close the day at Rs. 131.13/18 on the back of importer demand as volumes traded moderated. The total USD/LKR traded volume for the previous day (11 October 2013) stood at $ 59.07 million.
Some of the forward dollar rates that prevailed in the market were 1-Month: Rs. 131.96, 3-Months: Rs. 133.48 and 6-Months: Rs. 136.01.
