91-day treasury bill yield declines to 0.198%

The interest on the benchmark treasury bills eased slightly while those for the other two tenors rose amid an apparent continued correction despite investors remaining confident on the Philippine economy.

The yield on the 91-day bills settled at 0.198 percent, down 0.2 basis point from the previous average. The rate for the 183-day was at 0.52 percent, up 0.7 basis point, while that for the 364-day paper was at 0.606 percent, also higher by 5.7 basis points.

Monday’s result for the benchmark bills was 20.2 basis points lower than the corresponding 0.4-percent average for done deals at the floor of Philippine Exchange and Dealing Corp.

In the secondary market, prevailing rates for the 183-day bills was 11 basis points higher at 0.65 percent, and for the 364-day bills, also 17.9 basis points higher at 0.785 percent.

The Bureau of the Treasury raised a total of P6.38 billion instead of the planned P7.5 billion due to a partial award for the six-month securities. Investors tendered a total of P12.44 billion or less than twice the total offering.

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said in an interview that Monday’s results showed that the market sustained its confidence on the economy’s prospects given the government’s debt management program.

She noted that a very low inflation environment continued to prevail, which hopefully would carry over to the next year. “We’re entering 2013 with a very strong cash balance,” she said.

Last week, the National Statistics Office reported that inflation in November settled at 2.8 percent, which was below the lower end of the central bank’s target range of 3 to 5 percent.