Bond market sentiment remains negative ahead of weekly T-Bill auction

• Published date: 09 August 2022
• Publication title: Daily Financial Times

The negative sentiment in the secondary bond market persisted at the start of a fresh trading week yesterday as most market participants were seen adopting a wait and see policy ahead of the weekly Treasury bill auction due today.

The weekly Treasury bill auction will be conducted a day prior due to Thursday being a public holiday. A total volume of Rs. 85 billion will be on offer, a reduction of Rs. 2.5 billion over its previous week's total offered volume. This will consist of Rs. 35 billion on the 91 day maturity and Rs. 25 billion each on the 182 day and 364 day maturities. At last week's auction, weighted average rates decreased for a third consecutive week by 114, 27 and 34 basis points on the 91 day, 182 day and 364 day maturities to 27.72%, 28.97% and 29.19% respectively. The total offered amount of Rs. 87.5 billion was successfully accepted at its 1st phase of the auction while a further amount of Rs. 20.35 billion was raised at its 2nd phase of the auction.

The...