Bond yields broadly steady

Wednesday, 5 August 2026 06:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Rs. 140 b T-Bill auction in focus

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary Bond market yesterday saw rates hold broadly steady on the majority of the yield curve, excluding the 2030 tenors, which saw yields edge up. Activity and transaction volumes were seen at healthy levels.

The 15.02.28 and the 15.06.29 maturities traded at the rates of 10.50% and 10.90% each. The 01.08.30 and 15.10.30 maturities traded at the rates of 11.42%-11.45% and 11.45%-11.47% respectively. The 01.02.31 maturity traded at the rate of 11.60%, the 15.10.34 within the narrow range 12.28%-12.30% and the 01.07.37 maturity traded at the rate of 12.80%.

The Treasury Bill auction scheduled for today (5), will have a total amount of Rs. 140 billion on offer. This will comprise of Rs. 55 billion offered on the 91-day maturity, Rs. 50 billion on the 182-day maturity and Rs. 35 billion on the 364-day maturity. This is below the maturity corresponding to the scheduled auction, which is estimated to be around Rs. 158.26 billion.

To recap: At the weekly Treasury Bill auction held on Tuesday, the weighted average yields on the shorter tenors dropped for the third consecutive week. Accordingly, the yield on the 91-day tenor declined by 9 basis points to 9.86% and the 182-day maturity dropped by 3 basis points to 10.21%. 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 or equal to their respective amounts offered, while the one-year tenor raised less than the amount offered. The bids received exceeded the offered amount by 2.09 times. A further amount of Rs. 14 billion was raised at its phase two out of a total demand of Rs. 41.32 billion.

In the money market, the net liquidity surplus stood at Rs. 184.74 billion yesterday. Of this, Rs. 159.19 billion was absorbed via the Central Bank’s Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) at 8.25%, while a further Rs. 25.55 billion was mopped up through an overnight repo auction conducted by the Domestic Operations Department (DOD) at a weighted average rate of 8.73%.

The weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repos were recorded at 9% and 9.04% respectively.

Forex market

The USD/LKR rate on spot contracts was seen closing at the day at Rs. 335.72/335.77, broadly steady against its previous day’s close of Rs. 335.75/335.80.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 3 August was $ 129.50 million.

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