T-bill yields fall as demand rises

THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the Treasury bills it auctioned off on Monday as yields dropped across all tenors, with investors looking to take advantage of still-high rates swamping the offer amid expectations of further monetary easing here and abroad.

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The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P25 billion as planned from the T-bills it placed on the auction block as the offering was more than six times oversubscribed, with total bids reaching P156.428 billion. This was higher than the P125.04 billion in tenders recorded on Sept. 1.

The Auction Committee fully awarded the T-bill offer amid the strong demand and as all tenors fetched average rates that were lower than those seen at the previous auction and prevailing secondary market yields, the BTr said in a statement.

Broken down, the Treasury borrowed P8.5 billion as planned via the 91-day T-bills as total tenders for the tenor reached P37.225 billion. The three-month paper was quoted at an average rate of 5.046%, down by 8.1 basis points (bps) from the 5.173% recorded in the previous auction. Yields accepted ranged from 5% to 5.104%.

The government likewise raised P8.5 billion as programmed from the 182-day securities as tenders amounted to P63.072 billion. The average rate of the six-month T-bill was at 5.222%, falling by 10.1 bps from the 5.323% fetched last week, with accepted rates spanning from 5.185% to 5.248%.