Benchmark Treasury-bill rate up slightly to 3.946%

MANILA, Philippines – The government sold P8 billion worth of Treasury bills (T-bills) yesterday even as most investors opted for longer-term debt papers.

At yesterday’s auction, the average rate of the 91-day debt paper stood at 3.946 percent, slightly up from 3.936 percent previously.

National Treasurer Roberto Tan said investors are awash with cash with billions of pesos worth of papers maturing this week.

Tan said the Treasury has a total of P38.7 billion worth of maturing retail Treasury bonds.

Another P6.5 billion worth of regular retail Treasury bonds (RTBs) would also be maturing this week. “The market is awash with cash because of the large maturities,” Tan told reporters after the auction.

He said that investors are already “locking in” on the longer-term papers such as the 364-day Treasury bill.

Investors tendered bids worth P2.320 billion, allowing the government to make a full award of P1.5 billion. Bids ranged from 3.9 percent to 4.050 percent.

The 182-day T-bills fetched a rate of 4.322 percent from 4.302 previously or an increase of two basis points. Bids ranged from 4.250 percent to 4.350 percent.

Total tenders for this paper amounted to P7.050 billion, double the P3 billion offered by the government’s auction committee.

The 364-day debt paper, meanwhile, fetched an average rate of 4.490 percent, lower than the previous rate of 4.562 percent as bids ranged from 4.480 percent to 4.495 percent.

Investors’ preference for this tenor showed in the volume of bids of P20.460 billion out of only P3.5 billion offered by the government.

Tan said the positive outlook on inflation boosted the appetite of investors.

He said investors are now putting their funds in long-term government papers because inflation is expected to be benign.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that inflation in August is expected to range from 3.6 percent to 4.5 percent despite the stronger than expected 7.9 percent-economic growth in the second quarter of the year.

The BSP expects inflation — the rate of change in consumer prices — for 2010 to reach between 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)