Treasury bill yields buck rising trend at biggest primary auction in history

• CB sells record Rs.180bn in bills and Phase II of auction remains open to raise a further 25% 

The weeks-long run-up in the Treasury bill yields ended yesterday at the weekly auction, which sold a record Rs.180 billion in bills, the largest auction in the history of bill auctions. 
The yields fell across all three tenures, marking a decline after six weeks of firming up over tight liquidity in the money markets and also the fresh concerns over the domestic debt restructuring. 
At the weekly bill auction held yesterday, the most popular three-month bills shed 33 basis points to 25.47 percent while the six-month bills gave up 20 basis points to settle at 25.22 percent. 
The benchmark 12-month bill yield declined 35 basis points to 22.79 percent. 
“Since bond auctions were not held in order to reinvest the principle bond maturities and coupons received last week, partial roll over of such maturities would have (been) deployed for T-bills, resulting in T-bill rates falling,” opined Charts.lk, an economic and social statistics analysis firm operating out of Colombo. 
The Central Bank offered Rs.180 billion in bills at the proportions of Rs.90.0 billion under three-month bills and Rs.45 billion each under six-month and 12-month bills, which got accepted fully in the proportions of Rs.79.9 billion, Rs.47.5 billion and Rs.52.6 billion, respectively under the three tenures. 
Only one recent bill auction exceeded yesterday’s magnitude of the auction but that included Phase II, which typically raise 25 percent of the aggregate amount offered at Phase I. 
As Phase II is open for this week’s bill auction, under the same conditions to raise an additional 25 percent, this auction could stand out as the biggest thus far. 
The Central Bank remains skewed towards raising the government’s funding requirement via short-term bills over the long-term bonds due to both the expectation of the yields to ease further in the back half of the year and also the possible restructuring of bonds. 

The annual revenue rose 70 percent YoY to Rs.84 billion but cost of sales rose 73 percent YoY to Rs.77.6 billion. 
A press release issued by TJL said the group ended the year with a noteworthy cash and cash equivalent balance of Rs.11.2 billion, an improvement of 36 percent over the preceding financial year, as a result of liquidation of inventory.
As at March 31, 2023, Brandix Lanka Limited held 32.4 percent in Teejay Lanka and Pacific Textured Jersey Holdings held 27.34 percent.