T-bill rates fall across the board

Treasury bill rates further fell across the board on Monday, allowing the Bureau of the Treasury to sell P22 billion in short-dated government securities.

The Treasury awarded P5 billion in 91-day IOUs at an average of 2.269 percent, down from 2.479 percent last week.

It also sold P7 billion in 182-day treasury bills at 2.374 percent, down from 2.625 percent previously.

The Treasury offered only P5 billion in six-month debt paper but National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said that they doubled the noncompetitive bids to sell an extra P2 billion.

The P10 billion in 364-day T-bills fetched an annual rate of 2.761 percent, down from 2.945 percent during the previous auction.

As such, De Leon said that the Treasury opened its tap facility window to sell another P10 billion in the one-year IOUs to the 11 government securities eligible dealers-market makers.

De Leon noted that average bids fell below even secondary market levels, such that the Treasury made a full award.

Tenders across the three tenors totaled P87.2 billion, making the auction over four times oversubscribed. INQ