Market snaps up P25-B T-bills in brisk auction

The Bureau of the Treasury on Monday raised P25 billion from short-dated T-bills due to robust demand even as rates moved sideways.

The Treasury awarded P5 billion in the benchmark 91-day debt paper at an average rate of 1.325 percent, up from 1.295 percent last week.

It also sold P8 billion in 182-day treasury bills at 1.695 percent, up from 1.646 percent previously.

The P12 billion in 364-day T-bills bucked the trend as the annual rate declined to 1.903 percent from last week’s 1.912 percent.

Investors’ bids totalled P54.7 billion across the three tenors, making the auction more than twice oversubscribed.

National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the auction overall had “good results with healthy tender,” hence the full award of Monday’s offering.

While bid rates for the shorter end of the curve inched up, De Leon said these remained within secondary market levels and were “tempered by the lower inflation print in March.”

Last month’s headline inflation eased to 4.5 percent from 4.7 percent in February.

Ben O. de Vera