T-bill rates mixed in auction

MANILA, Philippines — Short-term government securities fetched mixed results yesterday as rates for the 91- and 364-day Treasury bills declined, while yield for the 182-day debt papers climbed.

The yield of the 91-day T-bills declined by 11.3 basis points to 3.168 percent at yesterday’s auction from 3.281 percent last Nov. 4, while that of the 364-day debt paper slipped by 1.2 basis points to 3.501 percent from 3.513 percent.

On the other hand, the 182-day tenor fetched 3.249 percent or 5.1 basis points higher than the previous yield of 3.198 percent.

“I think it’s within our expectations, given that we have a huge maturity this week, another P212 billion of liquidity,” National deputy treasurer Sharon Almanza said.

Almanza said the auction was more than two times oversubscribed as bids across all tenors reached P56.12 billion versus the issue size of P20 billion.

The auction committee made a full award to P8 billion for the 91-day as tenders amounted to P18.45 billion, as well as P6 billion for the one-year debt paper with bids reaching P24.93 billion.

On the other hand, it made a partial award of only P3.99 billion for the 182-day tenor, lower than the issue size of P6 billion, to cap the rise in rates. Bids for the 182-day T-bills reached P12.74 billion.

“Except for the 182 which we partially awarded, because the average rate the committee thought that it’s a bit high, higher than the average last time,” Almanza said.