Big appetite for T-bills brings down rates

The Bureau of the Treasury fully awarded the P15 billion in fresh T-bills auctioned off Monday as rates fell across the board.

“Average rates came in below secondary market levels across all tenors amid healthy market demand,” the Treasury said in a statement.

Tenders reached P31.9 billion, making the auction oversubscribed twice as much.

For the P6 billion in 91-day treasury bills, the average rate declined to 2.176 percent from 2.189 percent in the previous auction.

Investors tendered P15.8 billion for the three-month IOUs maturing on Nov. 2.

As for the P5 billion in 182-day debt paper, the rate was 2.529 percent.

Bids for the six-month government securities maturing on Jan. 31 next year reached P7.9 billion.

The 364-day T-bills, meanwhile, were accepted at an annual rate of 2.972 percent, down from 2.995 percent previously.

Tenders for the one-year treasury bills maturing on Aug. 1, 2017 totaled P8.2 billion.

In contrast, the Treasury last week rejected all bids for the P15 billion in reissued 20-year T-bonds maturing on May 18, 2037.

“Auction rates exceeded internal estimates, rising from when the security was first reissued in June 2017,” the Treasury had said.

The bonds fetched an annual rate of 5.035 percent, lower than the 5.25-percent coupon rate when they were first issued in May.

Tenders last week reached only P11.2 billion due to “muted” market demand, the Treasury said.