T-bill rates up for 8th week

The Marcos administration was able to raise its planned short-term borrowings during Monday’s sale of Treasury bills (T-bills), unfazed by more expensive rates that had risen for the eighth straight week amid expectations of an inflation pick-up in November due to typhoons.

Auction results showed the government raised P15 billion via T-bills, as targeted.

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) said the debt paper had attracted P47.2 billion in total demand, 3.1 times bigger than the original size of the offering.

But that did not stop local creditors from asking for higher yields. Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., said rates jumped for the eighth straight week as investors braced for a higher inflation print in November following the recent onslaught of powerful typhoons.

A weaker peso that had revisited the record-low 59 last week is adding to investor unease, Ricafort added. On Monday, the local currency closed at 58.99 versus the greenback, weaker by 12 centavos from its previous finish.

As a result, the average yield for the 91-day T-bill stood at 5.647 percent yesterday, more expensive than last week’s 5.631 percent.

The 182-day debt securities, meanwhile, fetched a rate of 5.882 percent, up from 5.862 percent.

Lastly, creditors sought an average yield of 5.905 percent for the 364-day T-bills, higher than the 5.871 percent that they had demanded last week.

The Marcos administration aims to raise about P90 billion from the domestic market this month, of which P60 billion will come from T-bills and P30 billion from longer-dated Treasury bonds. —Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral