T-bill rates mostly higher

MANILA, Philippines — Treasury bill rates ended mostly higher yesterday as the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) fully awarded all tenors amid healthy demand from the market.

During yesterday’s auction, the BTr successfully awarded P4 billion worth of 91-day T-bills at an average rate of 4.952 percent, 11.5 basis points lower than the 5.067 percent recorded during the rejected auction last week.

Total tenders reached P7.317 billion, almost twice the P4 billion offer size.

Meanwhile, the auction committee also accepted P5 billion worth of 182-day securities at an average rate of 6.059 percent, 16.5 basis points higher than the 5.894 percent fetched last week.

The auction was oversubscribed, with total bids amounting to P7.343 billion.

Lastly, the BTr fully awarded P6 billion in 364-day T-bills, which fetched an average rate of 6.489 percent. This was 23.3 basis points higher than the previous week’s level of 6.256 percent.

Total tenders reached P9.85 billion, higher than the P6 billion offering.

In an interview, Deputy Treasurer Erwin Sta. Ana said the auction committee decided to fully award all tenors on strong demand from investors.

“Total tenders is about P25 billion so that’s quite a good turnout and that’s the reason why the committee decided to fully award all tenors,” he said.

Sta. Ana added the results of the auction may be reflective of the easing sentiments of the market in terms of domestic inflation.

“We saw some correction on the 91-day because if you compare the rates from the previous fully rejected auction, it’s a little bit lower than last week’s. So we are thinking that is also an indication that some view it as inflation peaking already. So it’s a good sign,” Sta. Ana said.