BTr raises P15B from reissued bonds

The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has made a full award of reissued 10-year Treasury bonds (T-bonds) worth P15 billion during its auction on Tuesday as the average rate declined.

The agency said total bids reached P43.3 billion or 2.9 times bigger than the programmed offer.

The bonds had a remaining term of nine years and two months, and fetched an average rate of 5.870 percent, lower than the 5.967 percent the BTr posted in its auction on 17 September.

Slightly higher

Compared to the secondary-market level, the T-bonds rate was slightly higher than the 5.85 percent posted on the website of the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corporation.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. chief economist Michael Ricafort said the rate movements reflected some worries among investors about economic uncertainties from a possible win by Donald Trump in the US presidential elections on 5 November.

Economists expect Trump’s policies to increase inflation in global markets as he has been pushing for protectionist trade, such as higher tariffs on imports and import ban on certain goods like electronics.

ABC News yesterday reported Democratic Party’s US presidential candidate Kamala Harris continued to surpass Trump, the Republican Party’s bet and former president, by just 1 percentage point in election surveys.

Turning pessimistic

Ricafort added some investors might be turning pessimistic as the peso continued to weaken against the US dollar while awaiting the results of the US presidential elections.

“The relatively higher US dollar/peso exchange rate recently neared three-month highs at 58.20 levels that could lead to higher import prices,” he said.

The peso closed at 58.275 against the dollar on Tuesday from 58.225 per dollar on Monday, according to the Bankers Association of the Philippines.

With the latest reissued 10-year bond award, BTr said the total outstanding volume for its series hit P251.85 billion.

The government aims to borrow a total of P2.57 trillion this year from domestic and foreign sources.