YIELD ON the benchmark 91-day treasury bill went up by one basis point to an average of 3.946 percent as yesterday?s auction showed mixed results.
The rate on the 182-day T-bill went up by 2 bps to an average of 4.322 percent while those for the 364-day bill fell by 7.2 bps to 4.49 percent.
The Bureau of the Treasury raised a total of P8 billion as planned, with the government awarding fully the entire offer for all three tenors.
National Treasurer Roberto B. Tan said yesterday?s auction results showed the investors? preference for longer-term debt paper. ?The market is awash in cash, especially with a large amount of maturing government securities this week,? Tan said.
He said P6.5 billion worth of T-bills and P38.7 billion in treasury bonds are maturing this week.
Of the maturing T-bonds, P4.37 billion represents regular issues while P34.4 billion accounts for retail T-bonds (RTBs) due on September 8.
These RTBs account for about half of what the BTr refinanced last month through the issuance of a total of P97.5 billion in five-, seven- and 10-year retail bonds.
?Investors are locking in on long-term yields because of the liquidity,? Tan said. ?Moreover, inflation is expected to be benign.?
In yesterday?s auction, offers for all three tenors were oversubscribed, with investors ready to lay out P2.32 billion on P1.5 billion worth of three-month T-bills on offer.
Buyers tendered P7.05 billion against an offer of P3 billion for the six-month bills, and P20.46 billion for P3.5 billion worth of year-long debt papers.
In total, tenders for all three bills reached P29.83 billion or more than thrice the total offer of P8 billion.
Last month, Deputy Treasurer Eduardo S. Mendiola said that while the government was now favoring the issuance of longer term securities such as bonds, it would continue to float the shorter term bills.
The government has to keep issuing short-term securities because they serve as basis for lending in the wider market and help in developing the domestic financial sector, Mendiola said.
