October 20, 2006	Friday	Ramazan 26, 1427

KARACHI, Oct 19: The State Bank will auction three-, six- and 12-month treasury bills worth Rs20 billion on Saturday, but dealers expect no increase in T-bills yields. The settlement would be done on October 26.

The rising inflation has been a core issue for the bankers who want to see an increase of at least 50 basis points in the six month T-bill rates.

However, there was no indication from the official side about any increase in the rates. Analysts said that the rates could go up in second half the current fiscal.

On August 2, the SBP raised the cut-off yield of six-month T-bills by 32bps to 8.814 per cent, three-month by 31bps to 8.6417 per cent and for 12-month papers the yield was increased by 21bps to 9.0046 per cent.

“There is a possibility of increase in the cut-off yields of the T-bills but the SBP may be looking for suitable timing,” said an analyst.