T-bill rates rise
Treasury bill (T-bill) rates rose across the board yesterday amid expectations of further interest rate increases by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
During yesterday’s auction, the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) only sold P3.59 billion worth of 91-day T-bills out of the P5 billion original issue size for the securities after the auction committee cut the accepted rates at 3.55 percent.
As a result, the three-month debt papers fetched an average rate of 3.484 percent, 16.1 basis points up from the previous rate of 3.323 percent.
The auction was slightly oversubscribed, receiving P6.72 billion in total tenders.
Meanwhile, the auction committee also capped accepted rates for 182-day T-bills, bringing the amount of awarded bids to P2.46 billion, below the original offering volume of P4 billion.
This brought the average rates for the 182-day T-bills at 3.873 percent, 10.7 basis points up from last week’s 3.766 percent.
Total tenders for the securities reached P5.69 billion, signaling a slightly healthy demand.
Lastly, about P5.85 billion worth of one-year debt notes was awarded by the BTr yesterday, slightly below the issue size of P6 billion.
The rates for the 364-day Tbills stood at 4.429 percent, 7.2 basis points higher than the previous auction’s 4.357 percent.
The auction also met a healthy demand, attracting P7.85 billion in total tenders.
According to National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon, the short-term securities secured higher rates yesterday due to the market’s anticipation for further rate hikes on the part of the BSP.
“Even after the 50 basis points rate hike of the BSP, most analysts are saying those are not enough. So we expect more rate hikes. That is already being inputted by the market,” De Leon said.
She said the demand for the T-bills was not as overwhelming as it had been in previous auctions, as investors adopted a wait-and-see stance amid uncertainties in the domestic market.
“They are on a wait-and-see given already what they saw in terms of the inflation outlook. At the same time they are also looking at the peso,” De Leon said.