State Bank mops up Rs70.35bn

Published February 1, 2007

KARACHI, Jan 31: The State Bank on Wednesday sucked in huge liquidity through auction of treasury bills but the cut-off yields on all maturities remained unchanged.The realised amount was much higher than the target of Rs30 billion. Bids received were also on the higher side at Rs83 billion and the expected inflows were Rs60 billion while the SBP picked up Rs70.358 billion.

Market experts see shortage of liquidity and expected a slight increase in the money rates.

The SBP sold Rs98.05 million of three-month bills, Rs9.15 billion of 6-month and Rs61.11 billion of 12-month papers.

The cut-off yields were kept unchanged at 8.8142 per cent for six-month, 8.6417 per cent for three-month and 9.0046 per cent for 12-month papers.

Analysts said that the big participation of banks reflected their confidence over the tight monetary policy and stable interest rate.