Friday Apr 24, 2026
Friday Apr 24, 2026
Thursday, 23 April 2026 05:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Wealth Trust Securities
The secondary market Bond yields closed the day broadly steady despite rapidly shifting geopolitical signals and a fully subscribed Bill auction, where weighted averages reflected a mixed outcome.
At the weekly Treasury Bill auction conducted yesterday, the weighted average increased notably only on the shorter tenor 91-day maturity, breaking a trend of 4 weeks, of across-the-board increases. Accordingly, the yield on the 91-day Bill rose by 12 basis points to 8.27% and the 182-day Bill increased by only one basis point to 8.23%. However, the 364-day Bill saw its weighted averages remain unchanged at 8.52%.
The auction was fully subscribed and raised the entire offered amount of Rs. 110 billion at the first phase in competitive bidding. The bid-to-cover ratio stood at 2.41 times.
The second phase subscription across all three tenors is now open until 3.00 pm of business day prior to settlement date (i.e., 22.04.2026) at the WAYRs determined for the said ISINs at the auction.
In the secondary Bond market, the 15.06.27 maturity traded at the rate of 9.05%. The 01.07.28 maturity traded within the range of 9.67%-9.65% and the 15.12.28 maturity within the range of 9.90% to 9.85%. The 15.09.29 and 15.12.29 maturities saw trades at 9.93% and 10.00% respectively. The 01.11.33 maturity traded at the rate of 11.00% and the 15.06.34 maturity down the range of 11.17%-11.13%. Trading activity remained robust, with healthy volumes observed on selected maturities.
The total secondary market Treasury Bond/Bill transacted volume for 21 April was Rs. 36.95 billion.
In the money market, the net liquidity surplus was seen increasing to Rs. 151.01 billion yesterday. As an amount of Rs. 167.01 billion was deposited at Central Bank’s SDFR (Standing Deposit Facility Rate) of 7.25% as against an amount of Rs. 16 billion withdrawn from the Central Bank’s SLFR (Standing Facility Rate) of 8.25%.
The weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo yesterday stood at 7.70% and 7.71% respectively.
Forex market
In the Forex market, the Rupee weakened with the spot USD/LKR closing at Rs. 316.75/317.00 against the previous day’s close of Rs. 316.40/316.70.
The total USD/LKR traded volume for 21 April was $ 84 million.
(References: Public Debt Management Office - Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond Trading Platform, Money Broking Companies)
