NAIROBI, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's benchmark 91-day Treasury bill was under-subscribed the first time in weeks as investors' interest shifted towards the 182-day bill.
The 182-day bill was the only one which recorded an over-subscription in this week's auction, with 364-day bill registering for the second week a low performance, as the 91-day followed suit.
The happenings at the debt market are a replica of what happened in March, making the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to suspend the sale of the 182-day paper for eight weeks.
This week, the CBK as in the rest of the past auctions put up for sale 91-day bills worth 39 million U.S. dollars.
The paper managed to attract bids worth 30 million dollars, a subscription of 84 percent, with yields standing at 8.31 percent down from 8.37 percent.
On the other hand, the CBK floated the 364-day paper worth 97 million dollars, with the one-year security attracting a subscription of 95 percent worth 80 million dollars at 10.9 percent.
The floated 182-day paper worth 97 million dollars this week recorded a subscription of 120 percent valued at 117 million dollars. This was a slight drop from last week's 159 percent.
Analysts noted that investors' interest was initially skewed towards 91-day paper due to uncertainty in the interest rate environment.
However, with yields on the paper falling, they are shifting to the 182-day paper, whose interest rate stood at 10.3 percent this week since the bill offers high returns on risk adjustment basis as compared to the other two.
