THE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P24 billion from its treasury bills auction yesterday, as rates fell across all tenors and amid strong market demand.
The value of awarded bids for treasury bills is P4 billion more than the P20 billion initial offering.
The auction was nearly five times oversubscribed, with total tenders amounting to P99.6 billion, prompting the auction committee to double the accepted non-competitive bids for the 91-day and 182-day securities.
The BTr also opened the tap facility window for the 364-day IOUs, for another P10 billion.
Rosalia de Leon, national treasurer, was sought for comment on the auction results yesterday: “GS (government securities) only game in town.”
“Lower inflation expectation with low oil prices. Influenced still by ample liquidity and cut in policy rates,” de Leon said when asked by reporters through Viber about factors which pushed the rates lower across the board.
The 91-day paper fetched a rate of 2.479 percent, 13.8 basis points (bps) lower than the previous average of 2.617 percent.
Demand reached P24.748 billion, nearly five times the P5 billion offer, with the government opting to award P7 billion.
For the 182-day securities, the rate is 2.625 percent, 20.6 bps down from the previous 2.831 percent.
Tenders amounted to P33.41 billion, more than six times the P5 billion on program, with the auction committee awarding another P7 billion for this tenor.
Lastly, the 364-day debt instrument has a rate of 2.945 percent, 10.9 bps below the previous average of 3.054 percent.
Demand was more than four times oversubscribed, amounting to P41.77 billion, with the government selling P10 billion as planned.
