Secondary Bond market yields hold broadly steady

Wednesday, 20 August 2025 13:12 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Rs. 78.50 b T-Bill auction in focus

By Wealth Trust Securities

The Secondary Bond market yesterday witnessed healthy activity and transaction volumes. Yields were seen holding broadly steady although the 2032 tenor specifically saw yields edge up marginally.

The 15.02.28 and 01.05.28 maturities were seen trading at the rates of 8.75% and 8.80% respectively. The 15.09.29 and 15.12.29 maturities were seen trading at the rates of 9.40% and 9.43% respectively. The 15.05.30 maturity changed hands at the rate of 9.50% and the 15.03.31 within the range of 9.92%-9.88%. In addition, the 15.12.32 traded within the range of 10.26%-10.25% and the 01.06.33 maturity at the rate of 10.60%.

This is ahead of today’s bill auction, where in total an amount of Rs.78.50 billion will be on offer, a decrease of Rs. 25 billion over the previous week. The auction will be consisting of Rs. 16 billion on the 91-day, Rs. 30 billion on the 182-day and Rs. 32.50 billion on the 364-day maturities.

To recap, at the weekly Treasury Bill auction held last Wednesday (13/08/25), the weighted average yield rates dropped marginally. Accordingly, the weighted average rate on the 91-day tenor and the 182-day tenor registered declines of 01 basis point each to 7.60% and 7.90% respectively week-on-week. However, the 364-day tenor remained unchanged week-on-week at 8.03%. The auction raised the entire total offered amount of Rs. 103.50 billion at the 1st phase in competitive bidding. Notably, an additional amount of Rs. 10.35 million being the maximum aggregate amount offered was raised at phase II, out of the total market subscription of Rs. 14.34 billion.

The total secondary market Treasury Bond/Bill transacted volume for 18 August was Rs. 7.56 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 7.85% and 7.86%.

In the money market, the net liquidity surplus was recorded at Rs. 115.96 billion. An amount of Rs. 31.45 billion was withdrawn from the Central Banks SLFR (Standing Lending Facility Rate) of 8.25%, while an amount of Rs. 147.41 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 7.25%.

Forex market

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day depreciating to Rs. 301.55/301.70 as against Rs. 301.25/301.40 the previous day. The total USD/LKR traded volume for 18 August was $ 42.05 million.

(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)