June 17, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1424

KARACHI, June 16: The State Bank of Pakistan plans to sell Rs30 billion worth of bonds in an auction later this month in an apparent move to mop up liquidity as overnight rates stayed at low levels on Monday, dealers said.

The central bank said it planned to raise Rs30 billion through the auction of three-, five- and 10-year Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) on June 28.

“The auction will definitely pull out liquidity to some extent, but that will happen on June 30,” a senior banker said.

Until then, overnight rates would continue to hover at low levels, he said.

The central bank has set June 30 as the settlement date for the PIBs auction.

“A minor upward adjustment of 10 to 15 basis points is likely to occur because of the PIB auction,” the banker said.

The central bank said it planned to raise Rs2 billion by selling three-year bonds and Rs3 billion and Rs25 billion respectively by selling five-year and 10-year bonds.

The three-year, five-year and 10-year bonds carry annual coupon rates of seven, eight and nine per cent, respectively.—Reuters