September 30, 2003	Tuesday	Sha’aban 3, 1424

KARACHI, Sept 29: The State Bank of Pakistan said on Monday it had mopped up Rs21 billion in an open market operation (OMO) through the sale of one-week treasury bills.

The central bank said in a statement it received bids worth Rs22.15 billion for one-week T-bills. It accepted offers worth Rs21 billion at an annual yield of 0.90 per cent.

In the last OMO on September 22, the central bank bought Rs22.50 billion through the sale of one- and two-week T-bills.

Dealers said the central bank had lifted much of the maturing inflows from the last OMO auction to square the market.

“It doesn’t want a tight liquidity position. It has only squared the market,” one dealer at a state-run bank said.

“There is not much impact on the rates.”

Overnight rates closed at 0.75 per cent after trading as high as 1.25 per cent earlier in the day from Friday’s close of 0.25 per cent.

In a separate statement on Monday the SBP said it would auction Rs15 billion worth of three- and 12-month Treasury bills this week.

It said the auction would be held on Wednesday and settlement would be on Thursday.

The three-month Treasury bills will mature on December 26 and the 12-month paper on September 30, 2004, the statement said.—Reuters