T-bill rates end mixed before Oct. inflation data

THE GOVERNMENT upsized its award of the Treasury bills (T-bills) it offered on Monday, with yields ending mostly slightly higher as Philippine headline inflation likely picked up last month.

- Aaron Michael C. Sy

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P25 billion from the T-bills it auctioned off, above the P22-billion plan, as the offer was over four times oversubscribed, with total bids reaching P99.095 billion. This was also higher than the P85.365 billion in tenders recorded at last week’s auction.

The Auction Committee hiked its T-bill award as all tenors fetched average rates that were lower than those quoted at the secondary market, 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 P30.58 billion. The three-month paper was quoted at an average rate of 4.874%, up by 1.6 basis points (bps) from 4.858% in the previous auction. Yields accepted were from 4.848% to 4.887%.

The government also sold the programmed P7.5 billion in 182-day securities as tenders for the tenor totaled P37.255 billion. The average rate of the one-year T-bill inched down by 1.8 bps to 5.026% from 5.044% previously. Bids awarded carried yields from 5% to 5.049%.

Meanwhile, the Treasury upsized its award of 364-day debt to P10.5 billion from the P7.5-billion plan as the tenor drew demand amounting to P31.26 billion. This prompted the BTr to double its acceptance of noncompetitive bids for the tenor to P6 billion, it said.