- Monitory policy in focus
- Weekly T-bill auctions continue bullish run
The weekly weighted average rates were seen continuing its bullish drive at its auctions conducted yesterday on the back of continued buying interest ahead of the 8th monitory policy announcement for the year 2021 due today at 7.30 am. The monetary board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka kept policy rates unchanged at 5.00% and 6.00% on its Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) respectively at its announcement on the 14th of October.
The total offered amount of Rs.61 billion was successfully accepted for a sixth consecutive week at yesterday’s weekly Treasury bill auction as its bids to offer ratio stood at 2.76:1. The market favorite 91 day bill maturity recorded a dip of 24 basis points to 7.53% while the 182 day and 364 day bills registered dips of 01 basis point each to 8.02% and 8.16% respectively. Given below are the details of the auction,
Nevertheless, activity in the secondary bond market remained moderate yesterday with most market participants opting to be on the sidelines. Limited trades were seen on the maturities of 2023’s (i.e. 15.11.23 & 15.12.23), 15.12.24 and 15.03.31 at levels of 8.80%, 9.45% to 9.47% and 11.85% respectively. In secondary bills, January 2022 maturities traded at levels of 7.45% to 7.55%.
The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 23rd November 2021 was Rs.4.03 billion.
In money markets, the net liquidity deficit stood at Rs.224.10 billion yesterday as an amount of Rs.323.19 billion was withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR of 6.00% against an amount of Rs.69.64 billion deposited at Central Banks SLDR of 5.00%. The Domestic Operations Department (DOD) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka drained out an amount of Rs.29.45 billion by way of an overnight Repo auction at a weighted average rate of 5.99% while the weighted average rates on overnight call money and repo was registered at 5.92% and 5.96% respectively.
USD/LKR
In the Forex market, the overall market remained inactive yesterday while the USD/LKR rate on cash contracts traded at a level of Rs.203.00.
The total USD/LKR traded volume for 23rd November 2021 was US $ 28.25 million.
(References: Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Bloomberg E-Bond trading platform, Money broking companies)