According to the auction summary, a total of 48.51bn/- was raised against 38bn/- offered to the market for bidding, although at the end the government retained 40.74bn/- as successful amount.

High yield and coupon rates coupled with the improved liquidity level in the circulation are attributed to the outshining of the 15 years bond auctioned on Wednesday.

The 15-years debt instrument that was introduced to the market two years ago is one of the mechanisms used by the government to raise money for implementing long term projects particularly on infrastructure.

The weighted average yield to maturity increased to 19.75 per cent compared to 19.23 per cent of the previous session while weighted average coupon yield jumped to 19.23 per cent compared to 18.72 per cent of the preceding session.

The minimum successful price/100 was 66.10 while the weighted average price for successful bids was 70.20. The highest bid /100 was 74.09 while the lowest bid/100 was 51.11.

The number of bids received 67 and a successful bid was 46. Pension funds, commercial banks, insurance companies and a few micro-finance institutions are some of the key investors in the long-term government papers.

Source: Daily News