Treasury bill yields moved mostly lower at Monday’s auction, as investors braced for a raft of key economic reports that could influence future monetary policy direction.
The market remains watchful for signs of further monetary easing, both locally and abroad, ahead of major domestic data releases scheduled this week.
The Philippine Statistics Authority will report July inflation figures on Tuesday, followed by June employment data on Wednesday and second-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday.
Global sentiment also continues to sway local expectations. Last week, softer U.S. labor market data—partly attributed to trade-related uncertainties—heightened speculation of a possible rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Should that materialize, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) may be compelled to ease as well, depending on the strength of domestic indicators.
At the auction, the average yield on the 91-day Treasury bill declined to 5.318 percent from 5.388 percent last week, while the 182-day T-bill slipped slightly to 5.535 percent from 5.543 percent.
In contrast, the 364-day debt saw a modest uptick, rising to 5.637 percent from 5.627 percent, though still below the prevailing secondary market rate for the same tenor.
Despite a drop in total bids—from P103.5 billion last week to P87.3 billion—the strong demand allowed the Bureau of the Treasury to increase the awarded volume from the programmed P25 billion to P28.4 billion.
