Secondary Bond Market Activity Moderates Ahead of Auction; Yields Broadly Steady

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Daily report for the 10th October 2024 – Courtesy Wealth Trust Securities Ltd

  • Secondary Bond Market Activity Moderates Ahead of Auction; Yields Broadly Steady
  • Rs 95.00 Bn T-Bond Auction in Focus
  • Rupee gains further

The yields in the secondary bond market yesterday held broadly steady. Market activity was subdued and transaction volumes were relatively thin, as market participants adopted a cautious approach ahead of the upcoming Treasury Bond auction due this week.

Accordingly limited trades were observed on selected maturities. The shorter tenor 01.02.26 and 01.06.26 maturities traded at the rate of 10.10%-10.05% and 10.30% respectively. The popular liquid 15.02.28 maturity changed hands at the rate of 11.75% and the 15.12.28 maturity traded at the rate of 11.90%. The 15.09.29 maturity traded within the narrow band of 12.03% to 12.00%. Additionally, the 01.12.31 maturity changed hands at the rate of 12.25%.

This came ahead of the Treasury Bond auction due today, the 11th of October which will have on offer Rs 70.00 billion from a 15th March 2028 maturity bearing a coupon of 10.75% and Rs 25.00 billion from a 01st of October 2032 maturity bearing a coupon rate of 09.00%.

For context, at the previous T-Bond auction conducted on the 12th of September: A 15.02.2028 maturity was issued at the weighted average yield of 13.79% with the entire Rs. 150.00 billion offered snapped up. Meanwhile, a 15.06.2029 maturity bond was issued at a weighted average yield of 13.98%, and managed to raise Rs 145.961 billion out of the Rs 150.00 billion on offer. The relatively longer tenor 15.09.34 maturity saw all bids rejected. In conclusion, the auction overall raised 81.81% or Rs. 245.96 billion against a total offered amount of Rs 290.00 billion at the 1st phase in competitive bidding.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 09th October was Rs. 66.69 billion.

In money markets, the weighted average rates on overnight call money and Repo stood at 8.51% and 8.76% respectively. The DOD (Domestic Operations Department) of Central Bank injected liquidity by way of an overnight repo auction for Rs. 15.53 billion at the weighted average rate of 8.36%p.a.

The net liquidity surplus stood at Rs. 151.57 billion yesterday. Rs 0.10 billion was withdrawn from the Central Banks SLFR (Standing Lending Facility Rate) of 9.25%, while an amount of Rs. 167.19 billion was deposited at Central Banks SDFR (Standard Deposit Facility Rate) of 8.25%.

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the USD/LKR rate on spot contracts closed the day higher at Rs. 292.85/293.00 against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 293.00/293.20.

The total USD/LKR traded volume for 09th October was US $ 73.38 million.

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