MANILA – Results were mixed during Monday's Treasury bills (T-bills) auction as the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) decided to fully award bids for the 182- and 364-day T-bills while partially awarding the 91-day securities.
The 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day T-bills fetched an average rate of 5.592 percent, 5.927 percent and 6.079 percent.
Last week, the average auction yield of the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day T-bills was lower at 5.506 percent, 5.879 percent and 6.064 percent, respectively.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said T-bill average auction yields were mostly slightly higher for the ninth straight week, similar to the slight week-on-week rise in the comparable short-term PHP BVAL (Bloomberg Valuation Service) yields.
"[This is] amid the ongoing 5-year Retail Treasury Bond (RTB) offering that could siphon off some of the excess peso liquidity from the financial system and add to supply of government securities in the market, especially before the PHP700 billion total RTB maturities in early March 2024 that would add some additional peso liquidity by then," Ricafort said.
The three-month BVAL was at 5.570 percent, six-month at 5.860 percent, and one-year at 6.079 percent.
"T-bill average auction yields also slightly went up after global crude oil corrected higher to 3-week highs recently and also among 2.5-month highs that led to some increase in local fuel pump prices in recent weeks that could lead to some pickup in inflation," Ricafort said.
The auction attracted PHP30.4 billion in total tenders, more than twice the PHP15 billion offering.
With its decision, the BTr raised PHP14.5 billion of the PHP15 billion total offering. (PNA)
