PHL govt sells P9B worth of T-bills in weekly auction

The PHL government on Tuesday sold P9 billion worth of Treasury bills. Investors tendered P6.9 billion for the 90-day bills or over three times the P2-billion programmed sale for this tenor. The 91-day paper fetched an average rate of 1.941 percent from the previous 0.690 percent. The 182-debt paper fetched a 2.292-percent average rate from the previous 0.682 percent. Total bids for this paper reached P6.598 billion or more than twice the P3 billion that the Treasury Bureau offered. The yield for the 364-day bills reached 1.75 percent or slightly above the current 1.133 percent. Investors for this debt paper tendered P9.37 billion in all, or more than twice the P4 billion on program. Investors expect long-term rates to stabilize soon, National Treasurer Roberto Tan said. The debt sale on Tuesday is part of government’s P99-billion local borrowing program for the fourth quarter of 2011. — PE/VS, GMA News