Results were mixed during Monday’s Treasury bills (T-bills) auction as the Auction Committee decided to fully award bids for the 182- and 364-day T-bills while partially awarding the 91-day securities.
The 182- and 364-day T-bills fetched average rates of 5.646 percent and 5.748 percent, respectively.
The 91-day T-bill, meanwhile, was capped at 5.307 percent given lagging demand and the wide dispersion of submitted bids which reached higher than those of the longer tenor T-bills.
Last week, the average auction yield of the 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills settled at 5.157 percent, 5.554 percent, and 5.681 percent.
“The latest Treasury bill average auction yields again mostly corrected slightly higher for the 2nd straight week amid some continued market concerns over Trump’s tariff threats on April 2, 2025 that could lead to slower US economic growth and higher US inflation, or stagflation that could potentially lead to fewer Fed rate cuts,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said.
The auction was 1.8 oversubscribed, attracting PHP45.7 billion in total tenders.
“T-bill average auction yields also corrected slightly higher after again lower total bids at PHP45.867 billion lower versus the previous week’s PHP68.205 billion,” Ricafort said.
“The lower bids could be partly attributed to [the preparation] for tax payments ahead of the April 15, 2025 deadline, a consistent pattern seen for many years for the seasonal increase in tax payments, as well as ahead of the Holy Week holiday preparations.”
With its decision, the Auction Committee raised PHP24.2 billion of the PHP25 billion total offering.