Bond market activity subdued ahead of auctions

Friday, 11 September 2026 05:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary Bond market was at a standstill yesterday as traders were seen adopting a wait and see approach ahead of today’s round of Bond auctions.

The limited amount of activity witnessed was on the 15.02.28, 15.03.28 and 01.05.28 maturities at the rates of 10.05%, 10.10% and 10.15% respectively. The 15.10.29 and 15.12.29 traded at the rates of 10.50% and 10.55% respectively. The 01.03.30 traded at the rate of 10.60% and the 15.10.30 traded at the rate of 10.75%. The 15.10.34 traded at 11.85% while the 15.08.36 traded at 11.94%.

The details of the Treasury Bond auction due to be held on today (11), are as follows. The round of auctions will have a total offered amount of Rs. 150 billion across three available maturities.

The auction will be comprised of: Rs. 70 billion from a 1 August 2030 Maturity bearing a coupon rate of 10%, Rs. 50 billion from a 15 October 2034 Maturity bearing a coupon rate of 11.70% and Rs. 30 billion from a 1 July 2037 Maturity bearing a coupon rate of 10.75%

The settlement for which will be held on 15 September 2026 (Tuesday).

To recap at the immediately preceding round of Treasury Bond auctions conducted on 25 August, the entire offered amount of Rs. 50 billion was raised at the first phase in competitive bidding. The auction recorded a bullish outcome with weighted averages coming below pre-auction rates.

The bids received to accepted amount ratio stood at 4.70 times, posting a relatively high subscription ratio.

Maturity-wise the results were as follows: the shorter tenor 01.08.30 maturity was issued at a weighted average yield of 10.54%, while the 15.03.2035 maturity was issued at the weighted average yield of 11.70%.

In the money market, the net liquidity surplus stood at Rs. 116.19 billion yesterday. Of this, Rs. 76.37 billion was deposited with the Central Bank through its Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) at 8.25%, while Rs. 0.17 billion was withdrawn through the Standing Lending Facility (SLF) at 9.25%.

Meanwhile, the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank absorbed further liquidity through a series of repo auctions, mopping up Rs. 40billion overnight at a weighted average rate of 8.70%.

The weighted average rates on overnight call money and repos were 8.87% and 8.96% respectively.

Forex market

The USD/LKR rate on spot contracts was seen closing the day at Rs. 328.45/328.60, as against its previous day’s close of Rs. 328.50/328.70.

The total USD/LKR traded volume on 9 September was $ 74 million.

(References: Public Debt Management Office – Finance Ministry, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond Trading Platform, Money Broking Companies)