T-bill rates decline across the board

MANILA  -Yields on Treasury bills fell across the board as the national government managed to award fully on all three tenors amid strong demand for the securities.

Average rate on the 91-day T-bills went down by 8.9 basis points (bps) to 5.884 percent from 5.973 percent last week.

Also, 182-day T-bills eased by 17.1 bps to average 6.095 percent from 6.266 percent.

Further, average 363-day T-bills decreased by 11.3 bps to 6.226 percent from 6.339 percent.

“The auction was nearly three times oversubscribed, attracting P44.4 billion in total tenders,” the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) said in a statement. “With its decision, the committee raised the full program of P15 billion for the auction.”

The results were mixed when compared with prevailing rates at the secondary market.

At the Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL), the yield on the three month bill was 8.9 bps higher at 5.979 percent.

The yield on the six-month bill was 0.4 bp lower at 6.091 percent, same with the yearlong bill, which was 4.7 bps lower at 6.179 percent.

Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said this was the second week in a row that the benchmark 91-day T-bill rate had “corrected lower.”

Ricafort said the week-on-week decrease in T-bill yields was similar to the downward correction in BVAL yields

“The lower T-bill auction yields could have also been supported by the strongest peso exchange rate against the US dollar in more than three months,” he added.

The peso has appreciated for the fifth consecutive trading day, staying below the 55:$1 threshold for the fourth day. On Monday, the local currency closed at 54.38 against the greenback. INQ