December 25, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 20, 1423

KARACHI, Dec 24: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said the weighted average annual yield on 12-month treasury bills fell to 4.3597 per cent at an auction on Tuesday, from 6.8711 per cent at the last sale of 12-month paper on October 30.

The cut-off yield for accepted bids was set at 4.4386 per cent, against 6.9137 per cent at the October 30 auction.

The bank said it had sold Rs19.32 billion ($330.65m) in three- and 12-month treasury bills at the auction, of which 18.829 billion was 12-month paper and 496 million three-month bills.

The weighted average annual yield for the three-month bill fell to 3.9020pc from 5.7976 per cent at the last sale on August 21.

The cut-off yield for accepted bids was set at 3.9020 per cent, against 5.8124 per cent at the August 21.

In total, the bank said it received bids worth over Rs53.05 billion against a pre-auction target of Rs15 billion.

This was the first T-bill auction of three- and 12 month paper since a decision by the central bank to cut its key discount rate to 7.5 per cent from 9 per cent last month.

At the last auction on December 11, the bank sold six-month bills worth Rs12.97 billion.

Maturity will be March 20, 2003 for the three-month paper and December 26, 2003 for the 12-month paper.—Reuters