Sri Lanka Treasuries yields up

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka's Treasuries yields rose across maturities Wednesday with the 3-month yield up 7 basis points to 6.22 percent from a week earlier, data from the state debt office showed.

The 6-month yield rose 5 basis points to 6.31 percent and the 12-month yield rose 03 basis points to 6.31 percent.

The debt office sold 12.9 billion rupees of 3-month bills, 6.1 billion rupees of 6-month bills and 800 million rupees of 12 month bills totalling 19.92 billion rupees. There were 21.4 billion rupees of bills maturing this week with settlement on July 17.

There was also large bond maturity on July 15, where several auctions were held, with yield rising slightly. On Wednesday bond prices were largely unchanged, dealers said.

Excess liquidity in money markets rose sharply to 101.2 billion rupees Wednesday from 63 billion rupees a day earlier, indicating a dollar conversion to rupees. A 300 million dollar bond sale was also settled on July 15.

However data show that Sri Lanka has started to monetize debt, with domestic assets of the Central Bank starting to climb.

Sri Lankan shares end at one-month high on post-poll stability hopes

Sri Lankan shares hit a one-month high on Wednesday, led by large-caps and banks, as hopes of political stability after the Aug. 17 parliamentary elections improved sentiment.

On Tuesday, President Maithripala Sirisena criticised a comeback bid by Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he beat in elections last January, and his own allies for backing him to become prime minister.

Analysts see Sirisena's statement as a step towards strengthening his grip and likely to help the ruling coalition win at the polls.

The ruling United National Party (UNP) has formed a coalition with some other parties to contest the election. Political analysts say the alliance could increase the ruling party's chances of winning.

The main stock index ended up 0.56 percent, or 39.19 points, at 7,066.19, its highest close since June 15.

"The president's speech would have helped the index to move up. The tendency is for the same government to continue which means continuity of policies," said Dimantha Mathew, a research manager at First Capital Equities (Pvt) Ltd.

The day's turnover was 833.3 million rupees ($6.2 million), lower than this year's daily average of 1.05 billion rupees.

"Institutional and high net worth investors are slowly coming into the market," Mathew added.

Carson Cumberbatch Plc rose 0.76 percent, while the biggest listed Lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc gained 1.03 percent, pushing up the overall index.

Distiller Sri Lanka Plc jumped 3.96 percent, while Sri Lanka Telecom Plc rose 0.42 percent.

($1 = 133.8000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)