Weekly T. bill WAvgs unchanged for first time in the year

The Weighted Averages (WAvg) at yesterday’s weekly Treasury bill auction remained unchanged for the first time in 11 weeks as total bids received dropped to a 15 week low as well, Wealth Trust Securities said.

The total accepted amount of Rs. 14.9 b at the auction was the lowest level since 19 December 2012, which was Rs. 6.1 b shorter than its initial offered amount of Rs. 21 b, while the 91 day, 182 day and 364 day bills recorded WAvgs of 9.10%, 10.08% and 11.10% respectively, it said.

Meanwhile, Wealth Trust said secondary market Treasury bond yields increased yesterday mainly on the liquid two five year maturities (i.e. 15 August 2018 and 1 April 2018) to an intraday high of 11.05% and 10.95% respectively.

However, yields dipped once again on these two maturities to close the day at levels of 10.92/94% and 10.98/11.02% respectively, subsequent to the announcement of the weekly auction results as market was expecting an increase in weighted averages.

Furthermore, it said a limited amount of activity was witnessed on the longer leg of the yield curve as well, with the nine year bond changing hands within the range of 11.90% to 12% yesterday. In addition a limited amount of activity was witnessed on secondary market bills mainly centring around 364 maturity within the range of 11.05%-11.08%.