*First Capital Research | Daily FI & UT Watch | 05 Feb 2025* *“Weekly T-bill auction concludes with a marginal dip in auction yields”* In today’s weekly T-Bill auction, weighted average yields registered a marginal dip. The weighted average yield for the 3M bill stood at 7.79% and recorded a 14bps drop compared to the previous auction. The yield for the 6M bill traded at 8.00% with a 9bps drop, whilst the 12M bill stood at 8.43% with a 4bps dip from the previous auction rate. In terms of the volumes, CBSL offered a total of LKR 180.0Bn worth of T-bills collectively, and this amount was fully subscribed. Notably, the total bids received exceeded the total offered amount by 2.2 times. At the secondary market, the yield curve experienced thin trading volumes and moderate trading activity, whilst 3 and 6 month T-bills experienced rate declines following the T-bill auction. Amongst the traded maturities, at the short end of the yield curve 01.05.27 and 15.09.27 bonds were traded at 9.58% and 9.92%, respectively. Whilst towards the belly end of the curve, 15.02.28, 01.07.28, 15.10.28 and 15.05.30 were traded at the rates of 10.15%, 10.37%, 10.40% and 11.15%, respectively. At the long end of the curve 15.10.30 and 01.10.32 traded at the rates of 11.30% and 11.50%. On the external front, the LKR depreciated slightly against the USD closing at LKR 299.14/USD compared to LKR 297.64/USD recorded the previous day. CBSL holdings of government securities remained unchanged, closing at LKR 2,511.92Bn today. Overnight liquidity in the banking system contracted to LKR 146.95Bn from LKR 184.95Bn recorded the previous day. *-First Capital Research-*