Weekly Treasury bills average declines, auction undersubscribed

■ Rupee dips

THE weekly Treasury bill auction conducted yesterday went undersubscribed for the first time in 5 weeks, as only 72.28% or Rs. 86.74 billion was accepted in total against its total offered volume of Rs. 120 billion.

However, the weighted average rates continued its declining trend, led by the 182- day bill decreasing by 33 basis points to 25.79% followed by the 91-day bill by 24 basis points to 25.99%. The 364 day or 1 year bill declined by 01 basis point to 24.31%.

The Phase 2 of the auction will be opened for all three maturities at its weighted average yields, until close of business today. (i.e., 3.30 pm on 30.03.2023). Given below are the details of the auction, Meanwhile, activity in secondary bond market picked up marginally yesterday as the maturities of 2025’s (i.e., 01.06.25 & 01.07.25), 15.05.26, two 2027’ s ( i. e., 01.05.27 & 15.09.27) and 15.01.28 changed hands at levels of 30.25% to 31.30%, 28.30%, 28.25% to 28.50% and 26.00% to 26.25% respectively.

The total secondary market Treasury bond/bill transacted volume for 28 March 2023 was Rs. 12.10 billion.

In money markets, the overnight net liquidity deficit was Rs. 190.52 billion yesterday with the said amount being withdrawn from Central Banks SLFR ( Standard Lending Facility Rate) at 16.50%. The weighted average rates on overnight call money and REPO were at 16.49% and 16.50% respectively.

Forex Market

In the Forex market, the USD/ LKR spot contract depreciated further to Rs. 328.00/329.00 yesterday against its previous day’s closing level of Rs. 322.00/327.00.

The total USD/ LKR traded volume for 28 March was $ 86.00 million.