MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of the Treasury on Monday sold only P15.598 billion out of the P20 billion in T-bills it offered, capping rising yields as investors anticipated the upcoming retail treasury bond (RTB) sale.

The RTB issuance scheduled in the first quarter will—for the first time—have an online component, which Deputy Treasurer Erwin D. Sta. Ana said will allow individual investors to directly order from the Treasury.

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The Treasury awarded P4.39 billion in the benchmark 91-day IOUs out of the P6-billion offering, with the Treasury capping the average rate at 5.733 percent, up from 5.55 percent last week.

For the 182-day debt paper, all P6 billion were awarded at 5.978 percent, up from 5.933 percent during the previous auction.

The 364-day treasury bills were also partially awarded as P5.208 billion out of the P8-billion offering was sold at 6.052 percent, up from 5.983 percent previously.

Sta. Ana noted in an interview with reporters after the auction that while the tenders across the three tenors totaled P28.9 billion or 1.5 times the total offering, the one-year securities were undersubscribed with only P7.958 billion in bids.

“Majority of the demand came in at the 182-day. Feedback from the reports (is) basically a supply concern, with respect to a prospective RTB issue. So it looks like the GSEDs [government securities eligible dealers] are factoring in that issuance,” Sta. Ana said.

Asked if the RTB sale will be this month, he replied: “It could be this month… The timetable is still within the first quarter.”

The upcoming RTB issuance will make the IOUs available online, Sta. Ana said.

“[It] means individual investors can access our website and there will be an ordering form at the [Treasury] website. It [will be] self-explanatory because all the steps will be communicated properly through our website and through the marketing channels,” he said.

“We’re not closing actually the over-the-counter with the bank branches and the usual channels of distribution, but this is just giving investors another avenue to directly order RTBs from the Treasury itself,” he added.

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Sta. Ana said the Treasury has yet to determine the tenor and the volume of the RTBs to be offered in the coming weeks, as it will still meet this week with the government financial institutions (GFIs) that will serve as selling agents. /kga

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