Sri Lanka’s Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) sold an extra 3,510 million rupees of Treasury bills on tap at average rates of 10.09 percent and 10.27 percent, after Wednesday’s primary auction left more than half of the offered Rs. 140 billion unsold, EconomyNext reported.
The tap sale brings the total of bills issued this week to Rs. 75,254 million, against the Rs. 140 billion originally on offer. The 3-month bill was sold on tap at 10.09 percent and the 6-month bill at 10.27 percent — matching the average yields accepted at the auction.
All three maturities on offer at Wednesday’s auction — 3-, 6- and 12-month — were placed on tap after the primary auction settled only Rs. 71.74 billion at sharply higher yields, with the 3-month yield up 25 basis points and the 6-month up 26 basis points on the day.
The repeated tap activity follows a 48-basis-point jump across the curve at the June 3 auction, which was itself the first auction after the Central Bank raised the Overnight Policy Rate by 25 basis points to 8.75 percent on May 26. Combined with PDMO’s continuing reliance on tap sales to clear scheduled issuance, the pattern points to investor demand for Treasury paper that remains subdued despite the higher yields on offer.
