BTr rejects bids for short-term t-bills

The Bureau of the Treasury only partially awarded the treasury bills it offered Monday, rejecting all bids for the shortest tenor as rates rose while the market was mostly on wait-and-see if the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will keep or raise the policy rate at its Wednesday meeting.

Also, the BSP’s policymaking Monetary Board approved in principle the planned issuance of $1 billion in yen-denominated samurai bonds in Japan by late July or early August, Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana told reporters.

Economic managers are in Tokyo to hold a non-deal roadshow for the upcoming samurai bond sale.

As for the T-bills auctioned off by the Treasury, it only raised P8.4 billion out of the total P15-billion offering across the three tenors.

The Treasury rejected all of the P6.52 billion in tenders for the P5 billion in benchmark 91-day IOUs it offered.

The Treasury, meanwhile, fully accepted the P4 billion in 182-day debt paper at 3.766 percent, as investors tendered P7.106 billion.

For the 364-day government securities, the average rate was capped at 4.357 percent, such that the Treasury awarded only P4.356 billion out of the P6-billion offering.

Across all tenors, “bid rates came in higher than comparable secondary market levels at market close last week,” the Treasury said in a statement. —BEN O. DE VERA