Stocks drop while T-Bills and Bonds go undersubscribed

COLOMBO (News1st): The Colombo Stock Exchange ended on a negative note today, with the All Share Price Index closing 6.96 bps less, and the S&P SL20 closing 28.98 bps lower than yesterday. Turnover at the CSE was recorded at Rs. 1.57 Bn. The Treasury Bill auction held on Wednesday went significantly undersubscribed, with the Central Bank selling less than one fourth of the treasury bills offered at the weekly auction. The auction which offered Rs.40 Bn worth of treasury bills sold only Rs. 9.12 Bn from the received bids, that amounted to Rs.44.6 Bn, just 1.11 times of what was offered at the auction. ''The rates slightly increased, 1 year at 4.9 percent , 6 year at 4.7 percent and 3 months at 4.6 percent'' said Market Analyst Dimantha Mathew. The Treasury bond auction held on Thursday saw undersubscription in both series. The 2024 T-Bonds series sold Rs.30 Bn worth of treasury bonds from an offering of Rs.40 Bn , while the 2027 T-Bond series sold just more than 50 percent of the offered Rs.35 Bn.