PHL govt sells P9B T-bills during debt auction

Bids tendered by government securities dealers exceeded the programmed debt sale on Wednesday and the Bureau of Treasury was able to sell P9 billion worth of Treasury bills. The bureau also sees no need to sell government securities in the global debt market for the rest of the year to fill in the $500 borrowing needs for 2011. “There’s no plan to issue that anymore this year… at least for now," National Treasurer Roberto Tan said, noting government’s cash position remains strong. For the 90-day T-bills, investors tendered P5.184 billion which gave the bureau enough leeway to sell P2 billion — as programmed — at an average yield rate of 0.919 percent from 0.690 percent. The 181-day debt paper fetched 1.115 percent average yield, from 0.682 percent, with total bids reaching P8.598 billion or more than double the P3 billion on offer. The yield on 363-day T-bills reached 1.079 percent from 1.750 percent on total bids of P7.673 billion — compared with P4 billion that the bureau was offering for this tenor. “Rates are adjusting now toward secondary market levels," Tan told reporters after the auction, saying the auction committee was pleased with the results of Wednesday’s auction. In Oct. 3 auction, the bureau rejected all bids noting that banks tendered unreasonably higher yield rates. — VS, GMA News