T-bill rates rise across the board

Rates for short-term treasury bills rose across the board as the Bureau of the Treasury awarded Monday the full P20-billion offering—the first for the second quarter as well as the initial auction after monetary authorities tightened policy settings last month.

“The auction committee decided to grant full award with the average bid rates aligning with the secondary market rates along with sufficient market demand,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Total tenders reached P28.95 billion—P11.92 billion for the 90-day treasury bills, P8.65 billion for the 181-day securities and P8.38 billion for the 363-day debt paper.

The actual offering of P20 billion was comprised of P8 billion in three-month bills and P6 billion each of the half-year and one-year securities.

The average rates for all three tenors went up, with the 90-day bills posting the highest jump of 44 basis points to 1.44 percent.

Rates for the 181-day paper rose 29.6 basis points to 1.696 percent, while that for the 363-day bills went up 10.7 basis points to 1.972 percent.