MANILA – The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Monday fully awarded bids for Treasury bills (T-bills).
The 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills fetched average rates of 5.704 percent, 5.865 percent, and 5.965 percent, respectively, all lower than previous auction and prevailing secondary market rates.
"Treasury bill average auction yields again corrected slightly lower for the 4th straight week," Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said in a Viber message.
Last week, the average rate of the 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills was at 5.710 percent, 5.880 percent, and 5.982 percent.
The short-term Bloomberg Valuation Service yields as of March 27, meanwhile, was at 5.73 for the three-month, 5.92 percent for the six-month, and 6.07 percent for the one-year yield.
"[This was] after some dovish signals from the Fed and local monetary authorities over the past two weeks, though offset by signals on the possibility of around two local policy rate cuts," Ricafort said.
"The latest inflation due on Friday, April 5, 2024, is still expected to be within the [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] target range of 2%-4% and would still support possible local policy rate cuts later this year, especially if the Fed starts cutting rates and would still support local market sentiment," he added.
The auction attracted PHP47.8 billion in total tenders, prompting the committee to double the accepted volume of non-competitive bids for the 364-day T-bills.
With its decision, the BTr raised PHP17 billion compared to the PHP15 billion initial program. (PNA)
