T-bills fetched mixed results

The 91-day Treasury-bills (T-bills) fetched lower rates, while the 182-day and 364-day securities saw higher yields yesterday as investors await for the results of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting this week, according the Bureau of the Treasury.

As a result, the BTr during its last auction for the year decided to award only P4 billion worth of 91-day T-bills, and fully rejected all bids for six-month and one-year debt papers.

Rates for the 91-day securities averaged 5.323 percent, 2.7 basis points lower than the 5.35 percent recorded in the previous auction.

Healthy demand met the P4 billion offering, with P6.575 billion in total tenders.

On the other hand, the average rate for the 182-day T-bills would have increased by 25 basis points to 6.594 percent from last week’s level of 6.344 percent had the auction committee decided to award the papers.

The P5 billion offering was slightly oversubscribed, with bids amounting to P5.884 billion.

Rates for the 364-day T-bills would have also risen by 27.5 basis points to 6.86 percent from 6.585 percent had the BTr decided to award them.

It was likewise slightly oversubscribed, with total tenders reaching P6.855 billion.

In an interview, National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the results of the auction reflected the market’s preference for shorter maturities.

She said government securities eligible dealers (GSEDs) are currently on a wait-and-see stance pending the results of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week.

“Because Fed would be meeting on the rate hike action so I think they (investors) are still waiting for the outcome,” De Leon said.