Benchmark yields for short-term loans moved sideways, prompting the Bureau of the Treasury to partially borrow.
At Monday's auction of Treasury bills on Nov. 21, the bellwether 91-day Treasury bill rate, which banks use in pricing their loans, dropped to 4.375 percent from 4.464 percent last week. This, however, is higher than the secondary rate of 4.121 percent.
The Treasury sold the P5 billion worth of three-month debt papers on offer. Investors, however, were asking for P17.37 billion of the government security or IOU.
Yield on the 182-day T-bill, meanwhile, increased to 4.921 percent from the previous 4.838 percent as investors were willing to buy P7.11 billion of the six-month IOUs. The government awarded only P3.25 billion of P5 billion program.
The six-month paper also settled higher than the secondary market rate of 4.810 percent.
Lastly, interest rate on the one-year IOU has risen to 5.142 percent from 5.100 percent last week. This is also above the 5.054 percent fetched in the secondary market.
The one-yield debt papers attracted only P4.971 billion worth of bids, below the P5 billion on offer. The government accepted only P2.3 billion.