T-bill yields mostly climb after BSP rate hike
Interest rates sought by investors for short-term government debt climbed on Monday as markets priced in the latest rate hike of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the possibility of further monetary tightening.
Auction results showed the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) raised P100 billion from the sale of Treasury bills (T-bills) and cash management bills (CMBs) after drawing total bids of P180.8 billion.
Broken down, the Treasury raised P60 billion from T-bills after the auction had attracted P123.3 billion in tenders, or more than twice the amount offered.
Meanwhile, the BTr raised P40 billion from CMBs, garnering P57.5 billion in bids, or 1.4 times the amount on offer.
This marks the second consecutive week that the BTr has issued CMBs—short-term debt used to address temporary funding requirements of the government.
At Monday’s auction, the 91-day T-bill fetched an average rate of 5.217 percent, up from 5.171 percent previously. The 182-day tenor likewise rose to 5.754 percent from 5.694 percent.
Only the 364-day debt paper bucked the trend, averaging 6.034 percent from 6.124 percent.
For the CMBs, the 35-day paper averaged 4.738 percent, higher than the previous 4.611 percent. The 63-day CMB likewise climbed to 5.052 percent from 4.942 percent.
“Treasury bill average auction yields were mostly slightly higher after the latest 25-basis-point rate hike to 4.75 percent and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ signals of a further hike at the next rate-setting meeting in August,” said Michael Ricafort, chief economist at Rizal Commercial Banking Corp.
