A subdued end to trading week

By First Capital Research
The secondary market concluded the week with a mixed range of activities marked by subdued volumes and limited trading activities. 
Notably, attention gravitated towards the mid to long end of the yield curve, where 15.12.27 traded at 11.85 percent, while the 2028 tenures, including 15.02.28 and 15.03.28, witnessed trading in the range of 12.07 percent-12.16 percent. Trading was also observed in the 15.10.30 maturity, which traded at 12.75 percent during the day.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank has progressively reduced its total outstanding repurchase auctions (reverse repo) transaction volume, which stood at Rs.40.0 billion by the end of June 2024. This marked a significant decrease from the outset of the year, where the total outstanding reverse repo transaction volumes started at Rs.194.0 billion. 

Throughout 1Q2024, the Central Bank consistently conducted reverse repo auctions daily, aiming to inject liquidity into the domestic money market and provide assurance of liquidity availability to market participants. 
Furthermore, overnight liquidity improved to Rs.97.9 billion, whilst the Central Bank holdings remained steady at Rs.2,575.6 billion during the day. 
On the external front, the Sri Lankan rupee depreciated against the US dollar for the second consecutive session, closing at Rs.302.5/US dollar. However, there was a slight appreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee against other major currencies such as the AUD, EUR and GBP during the day.