ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s secondary market is trading on dull sentiments following the monetary policy meeting that has kept the rates unchanged, dealers said.
At the monetary policy meeting held on Thursday, the Central Bank has decided to keep the rate money that is injected in to the system at 15.50 percent.
Some investors were expecting a rate cut, dealers said.
The central bank governor says that the secondary market rates are stabilising even without bringing the policy rates down. “With that we hope interest rates also to stabilise,” Governor Nandala Weerasinghe said.
On Wednesday, the secondary market was highly active that saw the bond rates easing while T-bill rates moved up in active trade, following the weekly T-bill auction, dealers said.
A bond maturing on 15.01.2028 ended at 30.50/80 percent on Wednesday, down from 30.75/31.00 percent on Tuesday.
A bond maturing on 01.07.2032 closed at 28.00/60 percent on Wednesday, down from 29.00/30 percent.
A bond maturing on 01.07.2025 closed at 30.95/31.10 percent down from 31.00/20 percent from the last close.
A bond maturing on 15.07.2029 closed at 29.00/26 percent, down from 30.00/30 percent.
The three-month T-bills closed at 32.90/33.10 percent up from the previous close of 32.00/30 percent.
The Central Bank’s guidance peg for interbank transactions remained unchanged at 363.50 rupees against the US dollar. (Colombo/Nov24/2022