Treasury bill yields continue to decline

Strong demand for short-dated treasury bills pulled down rates across the board and allowed the Bureau of the Treasury to raise P22 billion during Monday’s auction.

The Treasury fully awarded P5 billion in the benchmark 91-day debt paper at an average rate of 0.969 percent, down from 0.984 percent last week.

It also sold P7 billion in 182-day bills at 1.323 percent, down from 1.348 percent previously. The Treasury offered P5 billion in the six-month IOUs but doubled the noncompetitive bids it accepted to P4 billion as the market was “overflowing with liquidity,” National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said.

The P10 billion in 364-day securities fetched an annual rate of 1.542 percent, down from 1.582 percent.

These average yields were also below the prevailing benchmark rates in the secondary market, the Treasury said.

Across the three tenors, total bids amounted to P112.2 billion.

De Leon said the P67 billion in maturing government securities this week freed up liquidity, hence the robust demand. —Ben O. de Vera INQ