Friday Jul 24, 2026
Friday Jul 24, 2026
Thursday, 23 July 2026 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Wealth Trust Securities
At the weekly Treasury Bill auction held yesterday, the weighted average yields on the shorter tenors dropped for the second consecutive week. Accordingly, the yield on the 91-day tenor declined by 18 basis points to 9.95% and the 182-day maturity dropped by 3 basis points to 10.24%. However, the 364-day maturity held steady at 10.20%.
The auction successfully raised the full Rs. 140 billion offered at the first phase of competitive bidding. Maturity-wise, the shorter tenors raised more than the respective amounts offered, while the one-year tenor raised less than the amount offered. The bids received exceeded the offered amount by 2.63 times.
This was subsequent to the ‘No Change’ outcome announcement at Monetary Policy Review No 04.
The Phase II subscription across all three maturities is now open until 3.00 pm today (23) at the WAYRs determined for the said ISINs at the auction (see table for details of the auction).
The secondary Bond market yields held broadly steady across the majority of the curve; however, rates edged up on a few selected tenors. As a result, the yield curve steepened as the T-Bill section compressed in relation to the T-Bond section. Activity was seen at subdued levels.
The 01.08.26 and 15.12.26 maturity traded at the rates of 9.80% and 10.00%-10.16% respectively. The 15.09.27 and 15.10.28 maturities were traded at rates of 10.40%-10.37% and 10.74%-10.765% respectively. The 15.06.29, 15.09.29 and 15.10.29 maturities traded at the rates of 11.10%, 11.25% and 11.25%.
In the money market, the net liquidity surplus was recorded at Rs. 175.20 billion yesterday, reaching its highest level in two months, since 19 May. An amount of Rs. 113.47 billion was deposited at the Central Bank’s SDFR (Standing Deposit Facility Rate) of 8.25% and Rs. 8.27 billion was withdrawn from Central Bank’s SLFR (Standing Lending Facility Rate) of 9.25%.
In addition, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka mopped out Rs. 50 billion by way of an overnight repo auction at a weighted average rate of 8.75% as well as Rs. 20 billion by way of a six-day term Repo auction at the weighted average rate of 8.75%.
The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repos were recorded at 8.99% and 9.02% respectively.
Forex market
The USD/LKR rate on spot contracts was seen closing at the rate of LKR 336.25/336.35 yesterday, appreciating from LKR 336.35/336.50 recorded the day prior.
The total USD/LKR traded volume for 21 July amounted $ 143.95 million.
(References: Public Debt Management Office - Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond Trading Platform, Money Broking Companies)
