Treasury sells P 26B in T-bills

With strong demand and low rates, the Bureau of the Treasury on Monday sold P26 billion in treasury bills, exceeding the P20-billion offering.

The Treasury awarded P7 billion in the benchmark 91-day debt paper at an annual rate of 2.046 percent, down from 2.058 percent last week.

It also sold P5 billion in 182-day treasury bills at 2.118 percent, slightly up from 2.114 percent previously.

The P14 billion in 364-day IOUs fetched an annual rate of 2.42 percent, down from 2.508 percent during last week’s auction.While the six-month rate inched up, the Treasury noted in a statement that all three average rates were below those in the secondary market.

The Treasury sold more 91 and 364-day securities than the P5 billion and P10 billion, respectively, it offered for the two tenors.

It explained that the auction committee doubled the noncompetitive bids for three-month debt to P4 billion, and one-year to P8 billion.

Across the three tenors, tenders totaled P83.9 billion, such that the auction was over four times oversubscribed.

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the tap facility window was opened to offer another P10 billion of 364-day T-bills. —Ben O. de Vera INQ