Treasury bills fully awarded

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) fully awarded bids for Treasury bills (T-bills) during Monday's auction, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

The 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills fetched average rates of 5.780 percent, 5.930 percent, and 6.056 percent, respectively, ending lower from the previous auction and prevailing secondary market rates.

Last week, the average rate of 91-, 182-, and 364-day T-bills settled at 5.869 percent, 5.988 percent, and 6.081 percent.

"Treasury bill average auction yields again corrected slightly lower for the 2nd straight week similar to the slight week-on-week declines in most comparable short-term PHP BVAL (Bloomberg Valuation Service) yields after mostly softer US employment and other economic data recently could support possible Fed rate cuts later in 2024," Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation chief economist Michael Ricafort said in a Viber message.

"T-bill average auction yields also again corrected lower after global crude oil prices corrected to new 1.5-month lows amid easing Israel-Iran tensions for more than 2 weeks," he added.

The auction was 3.5 times oversubscribed, attracting PHP52.9 billion in total tenders.

The BTr raised the full program of PHP15.0 billion for the auction.