Secondary bond market yields consolidate; Activity moderates

Wednesday, 18 June 2025 00:16 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Rs. 132 b Treasury bill auction in focus
Rupee appreciates marginally

By Wealth Trust Securities

The secondary bond market yesterday saw yields hold broadly steady as the market traded sideways, fluctuating in a narrow band. Market activity and transaction volumes were seen at moderate levels.

Accordingly, the 01.07.25 and 01.08.25 maturities were seen trading at the rates of 7.80%-7.75% and 7.70% respectively. The 15.12.26 and 01.05.27 maturities were seen trading at the rates of 8.10% and 8.40%. The 01.05.28 and 01.07.28 maturities were seen trading at the rates of 8.88%-8.87% and 8.90%-8.88% respectively. The 15.10.28 maturity traded at the rate of 8.92%. The 15.09.29 maturity was seen trading at the rates of 9.48%. The 15.12.32 maturity traded within the range of 10.32%-10.30%. The 15.03.35 maturity traded at the rates of 10.48%-10.45%.

This comes ahead of the Treasury bill auction due today. The auction will have on offer a total amount of Rs. 132 billion on offer, a decrease of Rs. 43 billion over the previous week. This will consist of Rs. 20 billion on the 91-day maturity, Rs 62 billion on the 182-day and Rs. 50 billion on the 364-day maturity.

For reference the weekly Treasury bill auction conducted last Wednesday (11 June) was fully subscribed. The entire Rs. 175 billion on offer was successfully raised in the first phase in competitive bidding. The total bids received exceeded the offered amount by 1.94 times. The weighted average rates remained virtually unchanged. Accordingly, the weighted average yield rate on only the 182-day tenor declined marginally by one basis point to 7.72%. The weighted average yield rate on the 91-day tenor and 364-day tenors remained steady at 7.55% and 7.94%, respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 06 June was Rs. 18.22 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 7.69% and 7.73% respectively.

The net liquidity surplus decreased further to Rs. 122.38 billion yesterday. An amount of Rs. 1.28 billion was withdrawn from the Central Banks SLFR (Standing Lending Facility Rate) of 8.25%, while an amount of Rs. 123.66 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard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 appreciating to Rs. 300.70/301.00 as against Rs. 300.90/301.15 the previous day.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 16 June was $ 21.55 million.

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

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