Treasury upsizes T-bill award as BSP easing bets boost demand

THE GOVERNMENT upsized its award of the Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered on Monday as expectations of easing Philippine inflation boosted bets of further monetary easing and drove demand for the papers.

- - Aaron Michael C. Sy

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P28.4 billion from the T-bills it auctioned off, higher than the P25-billion plan, as the offer was almost four times oversubscribed, with total bids reaching P87.28 billion, However, this was lower than the P103.45 billion in tenders recorded on July 28.

The Auction Committee hiked the awarded T-bill volume as all tenors fetched average rates that were lower than secondary market yields, the BTr said in a statement.

Broken down, the Treasury borrowed P7 billion as planned via the 91-day T-bills as total tenders for the tenor reached P32.505 billion. The three-month paper was quoted at an average rate of 5.318%, down by 7 basis points (bps) from the 5.388% seen in the previous auction. Yields accepted ranged from 5.3% to 5.324%.

Meanwhile, the government raised P19 billion from the 182-day securities, higher than the P8.5-billion program, as tenders amounted to P29.03 billion. The strong demand caused the BTr to double its acceptance of noncompetitive bids for the tenor to P6.8 billion, it said.

The average rate of the six-month T-bill was at 5.535%, down by 8 bps from the 5.543% fetched last week, with accepted yields ranging from 5.53% to 5.545%.