The latest Treasury bill (T-bill) auction has seen a big jump in interest rates on two instruments with the 91-day security going up by 57 per cent compared to the rate in the previous month in March.

At the same time, the 182-day instrument rose by 36 per cent. The April auction attracted total bids of $3.6 billion for the $2.2 billion offer for the three T-bill tenors that were offered to the local investing market.

The 91-day T-bill tenor ended with an average yield of just under 1.94 per cent, up nearly 57 per cent from 1.23 per cent at the March 12 auction. The 182-day T-bill tenor jumped 36 per cent to just under 2.07 per cent while the 273-day tenor ended at 2.47 per cent for the $800 million worth of T-bill on offer.

The March auction had just two issues amounting to $1.4 billion, but it attracted $7.4 billion in bids. The February issues pulled in $6 billion for the $2.2 billion offered in three issues, resulting in the average yields being slightly below the latest issues in April.

The rates for February ended at 1.52 percent for the 91-day T-bill, 1.96 percent for the 182-day tenor and 2.41 percent for the 273-day tenor, respectively.