91-day T-bill rate rises to 1.674%

A “cautious” market exactly a week before the May 9 national elections jacked up the yield for the benchmark 91-day treasury bills offered Monday.

The Bureau of the Treasury sold only P5.8 billion out of the P8 billion in bills on offer and capped the average rate at 1.674 percent, up 12.3 basis points from 1.551 percent last month.

The three-month debt paper maturing on Aug. 3 was nonetheless oversubscribed, attracting P9.52 billion in bids.

“Bid rates were below secondary market benchmarks but the decision to limit the acceptance of bids took into account market cautiousness, which sharply drove up rates for the 91-day security,” the Treasury said in a statement.

The six-month and one-year treasury bills, meanwhile, were both fully awarded with P6 billion each.

For the 182-day bills, the yield slid to 1.65 percent from 1.758 percent a month ago. Investors tendered a total of P12.96 billion for the IOUs maturing on Nov. 2.

As for the 364-day treasury bills, the rate rose to 1.866 percent from 1.799 percent in the previous auction. Tenders for the securities maturing on May 3 next year reached P10.69 billion.

In all, the Treasury accepted P17.802 billion for the P20-billion offering, which attracted tenders totaling P33.17 billion.