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 5.710 percent, 5.880 percent, and 5.982 percent, respectively, all lower than prevailing secondary market benchmarks.
Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said that as of March 22, the comparable short-term Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL) yield was at 5.77 percent for the three-month, 5.92 percent for the six months, and 5.92 percent for the one-year.
Last week, the average rate of the 91-,182-, and 364-day T-bills was also higher at 5.744 percent, 5.916 percent, and 6.033 percent.
"Treasury bill average auction yields again corrected slightly lower for the 3rd straight week similar to the slightly week-on-week declines in some comparable short-term PHP BVAL yields after some dovish signals from local monetary authorities since last week on possible local policy rate cuts and possible further cut in banks’ RRR (reserve requirement ratio)," said Ricafort.
"T-bill average auction yields continued to be slightly lower week-on-week after some relief on the markets due to the Fed’s reiteration on March 20, 2024 rate-setting meeting on the possibility of 3 Fed rate cuts for 2024," he added.
The auction was 3.4 times oversubscribed, attracting PHP50.5 billion in total tenders.
The BTr raised the full program of PHP15 billion for the auction. (PNA)
