T-bill rates up across the board

INVESTORS’ bid for higher rates rose across the board during the first treasury bills auction for the second quarter, prompting the Bureau of the Treasury to accept only about a third of the tenders for the six-month and one-year IOUs offered Monday.

Total tenders reached P38.97 billion or almost double the P20 billion in treasury bills that were offered to investors.

However, Treasury accepted only P14.46 billion in bids.

The government agency fully awarded P8 billion in 91-day bills at an average rate of 1.655 percent, up 25.8 basis points from the previous auction’s 1.397 percent. The benchmark, three-month debt paper, generated P19.61 billion in tenders, making it oversubscribed by more than double.

It was a different story for the 182- and 364-day securities, whose tenders were only partially accepted ‘‘to help ease the re-pricing of benchmark rates in the secondary markets without compromising the government’s interest cost objectives,’’ the Treasury said in a statement.

For the 182-day bills, offered only about a third or P3.75 billion out of the P6 billion was awarded to investors at 1.918 percent, an average rate higher by 21.9 basis points from that of last month’s auction. Investors tendered a total of P10.85 billion for the six-month debt paper.

The 364-day bills, meanwhile, generated P8.51 billion in tenders, but the Treasury accepted only P2.71 billion in bids at 2 percent, up 5.2 basis points from the previous auction.

The government will borrow a total of P135 billion through the sale of treasury bills and bonds locally during the April-to-June period.

The Treasury will offer P20 billion in bills for each of the three months, while a total of 75 billion in bonds will also be auctioned during the second quarter.

The borrowing mix for 2015 is 86-percent local and 14-percent external as the ‘‘mountains of cash’’ being held by the Treasury were being seen as enough buffer to sustain expenditures.

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