Treasury bill, bond rates may be mixed as market eyes BSP meet

RATES of the Treasury bills (T-bills) and Treasury bonds (T-bonds) on offer this week could end mixed to track secondary market yield movements amid expectations of further cuts from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

- 

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) will auction off P25 billion in T-bills on Monday, or P8 billion each in 91and 182-day papers and P9 billion in 364-day securities.

On Tuesday, it will offer P30 billion in reissued 10-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) with a remaining life of seven years and three months.

T-bill yields could be mixed or slightly lower, mirroring the week-on-week movements in comparable secondary market benchmarks, as slower May inflation data released last week bolstered bets of further monetary easing by the BSP as early as this month, Michael L. Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said in a Viber message.

Meanwhile, the reissued 10-year bonds on offer this week could also fetch rates close to secondary market levels, he added.

"We could expect a downward bias for yields on domestic bond issuances this week. This is mainly due to the latest Philippine inflation report, which continued to decline amid easing food prices," a trader said in an e-mail.