The expected pause in rate cuts by monetary authorities failed to dampen investor appetite on safe havens like Treasury bills (T-bills) as its average rates during Monday’s auction moved sideways albeit still lower than secondary market benchmark rates.
Despite the average rates of 91-day and 182-day T-bills going slightly above the previous rates, the Bureau of the Treasury still fully awarded P20 billion in government securities during the auction, which was met with robust investor demand.
The auction was oversubscribed by more than thrice the offer as total tenders amounted to P63.306 billion.
National Treasurer Rosalia V. De Leon told reporters the demand was driven by investors looking for reinvestment outlet as P118 billion in debt papers are set to mature.
“Rates plateauing as MB [Monetary Board] seen to leave rates unchanged,” De Leon said.
The 91-day T-bills fetched an average rate of 1.118 percent, which is 0.5-basis points higher than the previous auction’s 1.113 percent.
The tenor also attracted as much as P17.542 billion in total bids, more than triple the P5-billion offer.
Likewise, the 182-day T-bills also ended up slightly higher at 1.388 percent or 0.2-basis points up compared to 1.386 percent
previously. Tenders for the security reached P15.020 billion, thrice the P5-billion offer.
Sought whether the rates have bottomed out especially for the 91-day and the 182-day T-bills, De Leon said it would be relative to the monetary authorities’ move as the MB “still has room to lower policy rates.”
Seeing strong demand for 364-day T-bills, which reached total bids of P30.744 billion, the Treasury decided to open the tap facility for an additional P5 billion-offering.
During the auction, the security attracted tenders equivalent to thrice the P10-billion offer.
The average rate for the tenor also settled at 1.745 percent, slightly lower by 0.1 basis point from 1.746 percent previously.