Bond market activity continues at a moderate pace
Moderate activity was witnessed in the secondary bond market on Wednesday as most market participants were seen on the sidelines. Limited trades were witnessed on the maturities of 2024’s (i.e. 15.03.24, 15.09.24 & 01.12.24) at levels of 9.22% to 9.25%, 9.45% and 9.50% respectively. In secondary bills, February 2022 maturities traded at levels of 7.47% to 7.50%.
The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 16th November 2021 was Rs.36.69 billion.
In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs.226.68 billion on Wednesday as an amount of Rs.70.92 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 5.00% against an amount of Rs.312.75 billion withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 6.00%. The Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka was seen draining out amounts of Rs.7.15 billion and Rs.8.00 billion by way of overnight and 7 day repo auctions at weighted average rates of 5.97% and 5.99% respectively. The weighted average rates on overnight Call money and REPO remained mostly unchanged at 5.93% and 5.94% respectively.
USD/LKR
In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts continued to trade at Rs.203.00 while the overall market remained inactive on Wednesday.
The total USD/LKR traded volume for 16th November 2021 was US $ 105.80 million.
(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)