Gov’t fully awards T-bill offer on strong demand

THE GOVERNMENT made a full award of the Treasury bills (Tbill) it auctioned off on Monday, with rates on the longer tenors rising following the hints of a fresh rate hike from the central bank chief.

The Bureau of the Treasury ( BTr) borrowed P15 billion as planned at its T- bills auction yesterday.

The offer was twice oversubscribed as total tenders amounted to P32.9 billion, climbing from the P28.2 billion recorded at last week’s offering.

Broken down, the government borrowed P4 billion as planned via the 91- day tenor yesterday as tenders by investors totalled P10.431 billion. The average rate declined 7.2 basis points to 3.219% from the 3.291% logged in the previous auction.

For the 182-day T-bills, the BTr borrowed the programmed P6 billion out of the P8.996 billion offered by banks and other financial institutions. The average rate picked up by five basis points to 4.235% from the 4.185% tallied in the previous offering.

The Treasury also made a full award of the 364-day papers as it raised P6 billion as planned out of the total offers amounting to P13.489 billion. The average yield

likewise rose by 4.2 basis points to 4.809% from last week’s 4.767%.

At the secondary market prior to the auction, three-month and six- month papers were quoted at 3.2354% and 4.3675%, respectively, while the one-year securities fetched a 4.6467% yield.

At the close of the trading, the 91- day T- bill saw its rate climb to 3.2905%, while the 182- day papers rallied to yield 4.2212%. The 364-day tenor also slipped to 4.6465%.

Following the auction, National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon said the bureau saw good results amid healthy market appetite.

“We had a full award for all tenors during the auction and we