Treasury bill yields were mixed at Monday’s auction, as rising tensions in the Middle East—following U.S. airstrikes on nuclear targets in Iran—overshadowed the latest monetary policy easing by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Investor interest remained strong, with total bids reaching P65.5 billion for the P25-billion offering.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), however, had to partially reject bids for the 91-day T-bills to cap the yield. Despite awarding only P4.4 billion of the P8-billion offer for the three-month tenor, the average rate still climbed to 5.530 percent from 5.459 percent last week.
Robust demand for the 182-day securities allowed the BTr to upsize the offer to P11.2 billion. Even so, the average yield rose to 5.557 percent, up from 5.523 percent in the previous auction.
In contrast, the yield on the 364-day T-bill inched down slightly to 5.655 percent from 5.657 percent. The full ₱9-billion offer was awarded.
In total, the BTr accepted just P24.6-billion of total offer of P24.6 billion.
