New issues of Treasury Bills are offered on a regular basis by governments all over the world, to fund their short term financial obligations, but not everyone knows how the income payable on them are computed. Unlike regular bonds where the rate of interest to be paid is stated on the face of the instrument, that is not the case with treasury bills. .
The bills are usually of 30 days, 90 days, 182 days and 365-days duration but may vary by a day or two in each case. The rate of interest paid on these instruments is determined by an auction system. At these auctions investors predetermine what rate of interest they want and made an offer in writing ahead of the closing time prior to the bids being opened. The lowest rates are satisfied first. If the amount offered for sale by the government is oversubscribed, then those with rates that are higher than the rates on those amounts that equate to the amount offered, are rejected.
These bills are sold at a discount below the face value that the holder receives at maturity and requires the buyers to quote their bids lower than the maturing amount. For example one may bid at a price of $97 per $100 of 91 days Treasury Bills giving a discount of 3 percent. The discount rate is the difference between the lower price paid for a security and the security’s face value, adjusted for the maturity of the issue. It is calculated as follows:
((face value-purchase price)/face value) x (365/term) x 100 = discount rate. Using this example the discount rate for an instrument of 91 days will be computed as follows: ((100-97)/100) x (365/91) x 100 = 12.03%. ((face value-purchase price)/purchase price) x (365/term) x 100 = yield. The annualized yield, or the actual rate of return per year, is calculated as follows: ((100-97)/97) x (365/91) x 100 = 12.41%.
The amount of treasury bills offered, are published by the central banks who act on behalf of the governments and may be purchased either directly by investors or through brokers. There are usually set dates each month for these issues. Information published for each tender are those relating to the dates of issue, maturity, the closing and settlement.
Archives for July 2014
Calculating Treasury Bill interest income
CWJ revenues rise 37% push CWC Plc
Cable & Wireless Jamaica grew mobile customers with continued momentum from last year, by 37 percent, Cable & Wireless Communications PLC (CWC) said in a press release, in their first quarter interim management statement for the June 2014 quarter.
The Jamaican growth, pushed the mobile customers in Jamaica to around 750,000 at June, up from 705,000 at March this year and helped to move mobile subscribers was up 20 percent, for the overall CWC group on like-for-like basis, the statement indicated. “LIME growth was driven by continued strong subscriber additions in Jamaica, where revenue grew 34 percent at constant currency”. For the June 2013 quarter, the Jamaican operations saw growth of 22 percent in mobile customers and 10 percent increase in revenue. The growth last year came at a jump of 64 percent in subscriber acquisition cost, the company said last year after the completion of the June quarter.
Group Trading Performance| CWC said that mobile revenue which now represents 55 percent of Group revenue, was up 4 percent across the Group in the First Quarter, with increases in Cayman of 11 percent, following the successful introduction of LTE services; and in Panama 5 percent, where increased advertising drove mobile data 21 percent. Panama also achieved mobile ARPU growth for the first time in five quarters following increased focus on pricing.
Broadband and TV revenue, hampered by slower network speeds, grew only 3 percent and this is a key area where we expect to see improved performance over time as a result of the investments we are making under Project Marlin. The modest growth in Broadband and TV was more than offset by continued decline in fixed voice revenue.
Revenue in the B2B/B2G business – Managed Services – was impacted by reduced Government activity in Panama ahead of elections in May, but CWC management say they remain confident that the new management team and organisational focus will come to fruition later in the year. BTC in the Bahamas delivered solid financial performance alongside improved network reliability during the quarter.
Upgrade| CWCP said “we have upgraded 126 of our mobile sites in Jamaica since 1 April 2014 and expect to complete our 4G network later this year. The fibre build-out in Cayman is complete with over 11,000 homes passed. In Barbados we have now passed 26,000 homes with high-speed fibre. In Panama we successfully launched Direct-to-Home TV and ‘Movil Cash’ products, and, although it is early in the programme, we are exceeding our sales expectations”.
US$3.5M more bought than sold but J$ falls
In Friday’s forex trading, funds bought by dealers, were US$3.5 million more than the amount they sold as dealers bought the equivalent of US$41,124,424 versus US$29,237,131 on Thursday, and sold the equivalent of US$37,641,679 compared to US$34,773,160 on Thursday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$37,161,136 compared to US$24,787,518 on Thursday as the buying rate for the US dollar, rose 13 cents to $112.45 and sold US$34,873,810 versus US$29,503,394 on Thursday, as the rate gained 4 cents to $112.87.
The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 85 cents, to $102.62 with dealers buying C$1,128,685 and selling C$673,047, as the rate dipped $1.27 to $106.16.
The Pound closed at $189.64, for the purchase of £1,613,433, as the rate dropped 27 cents while £1,132,114 was sold, as the rate climbed 59 cents, to $192.08. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$212,185 while selling was the equivalent of US$215,776.
Highs & Lows| The highest rate for buying the US dollar, closed with a rise of 20 cents at $113.30, the lowest buying, the highest selling and the lowest selling rates remained unchanged at $91.85, $117.70 and $91.85 respectively. The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar fell 20 cents to $105 and the lowest buying rate gained 4 cents to $83.25. The highest selling rate inched up by 5 cents to $107.32 and the lowest selling rate was up 5 cents to $100.30. The highest buying rate for the British Pound was unchanged at $192, the lowest buying rate dropped 75 cents to $153.22, the highest selling rate fell $3.75 to $194.73 and lowest selling rate recovered $28.01 to $184.50.
J$ slips against US$ & British Pound
Dealers sold US$34,873,810 on Friday for 4 cents more than they did on Thursday with the rate closing at J$112.87 to One US dollar
The Canadian dollar fetched $1.27 less than the previous day as customers bought C$625,477 at J$104.89 and £1,926,6160 was sold at J$192.08, 59 cents higher than on Thursday
Jamaica Stock Exchange reports small loss
The improved position was aided by a write back of bad debt provision of $3.9 million in the latest quarter. After providing for taxation, a loss of $3.2 million was incurred for 2014 year to date versus $4 million in 2013. The bottom line performance, emanated from a $10.5 million revenue increase for the quarter and $23 million for the six months.
Income from cess, fell in both quarters but fee income was up by $11 million in the latest quarter and $20 million for the half year. Of the year to date increase, staff compensation ate up $10 million, pushing this item to $87 million for the six months. Overall expenses rose by $21 million to $182 million of 13 percent for the year to date.
The stock exchange has no borrowed funds with has equity of $558 million. $380 million of its assets are in cash or other forms of investment instruments.
The virtue of this stock is not to be found in the present results. Investors should be quietly acquiring the stock ahead of what is going to be much brighter days for the exchange when trading picks up. No one knows for sure when trading will pick up, but when it does it may be too late to acquire volume at prices under $2 where the stock last traded at.
Scotia Group pushes All Jamaica Index by 1,786.85
Broker house Scotia Investments was the only buyer of the 875,724 Scotia Group shares that change hands in Friday’s trading on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. The prices of the stocks rose to close at $20, but traded as high as $20.99.
For the overall market, the prices of 11 stocks rose and 8 declined as 26 securities changed hands, resulting in 5,240,852 shares trading, valued at $35,553,505.
Main Market indices| The main indices closed sharply higher in Friday’s trading as heavily weighted Scotia Group, jumped to close at $20 by the end of trading. The JSE Market Index surged 1,598.01 points to 71,711.80 and the JSE All Jamaican Composite index exploded by 1,786.85 points to close at 78,895.01.
National Commercial Bank that released results after trading on Thursday, closed up by 6 cents to $18.06 while trading 51,599 shares and closed with a bid of $18.11 to buy 116,978 units.
TTTSE closes week with moderate trading
Trading on the Trinidad stock market closed the week moderately, with 11 securities changing hands, of which 1 advanced, 4 declined and 6 traded firm with 198,565 stocks changing hands, with a value of $3,016,022.
The Composite Index lost 2.48 points to close at 1,162.35, the All T&T Index fell by just 2.87 points to close at 2,006.58 and the Cross Listed Index fell by a mere 0.27 points to end at 41.65.
Gains| The sole stock gaining on Friday is First Citizens Bank, closing at $35.52, up a cent, while trading 4,597 shares.
Declines| The stocks declining at the end of trading are Clico Investment Fund with 23,398 shares valued at $506,599 as the price fell 36 cents, to end at $21.65, Massy Group with 200 shares, lost a cent to end at $69.41, National Enterprises 53,051 shares, traded for $955,073, closed with loss of 23 cents at $18 and National Commercial Bank fresh from reporting strong nine month results, fell 4 cents to $1.05 as 25,002 shares with a value of $26,347 traded.
Firm Trades| Stocks closing with prices unchanged at the end of trading, are Agostini’s that had 1,000 shares changing hands to close at $17.45, Ansa Mcal 8,680 units closed at $66.30, Grace Kennedy with 3,471 shares ended at $3.45, Prestige Holdings with 68,666 shares changing hands, for a value of $645,460, closed at $9.40 followed by Point Lisas Industrial Port Development that added 10,000 shares to the volume, with value of $41,500 to close at $4.15 and West Indian Tobacco with 500 shares closed at $118.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator had 2 stocks with the bid higher than the last selling price and 1 stock with the offer that is lower.
Dealers sold US$5M than they bought
In Thursday’s forex trading, funds bought by dealers were US$5 million less than the amount they sold to customers. On Thursday, dealers bought the equivalent of $29,237,131 versus US$34,161,145 on Wednesday and sold the equivalent of US$34,773,160 compared to US$29,959,926 on Wednesday.
In US dollar trading, dealers bought US$24,787,518 compared to US$29,717,816 on Wednesday as the buying rate for the US dollar, rose 10 cents to $112.31 and sold US$29,503,394 versus US$27,907,850 on Wednesday, as the rate gained 12 cents to $112.83.
The Canadian dollar buying rate fell 12 cents, to $103.47 with dealers buying C$1,388,388 and selling C$3,310,920 as the rate climbed $1.14, to $106.16.
The Pound closed at $189.91, for the purchase of £1,780,267 as the rate dropped 54 cents while £1,163,718 was sold, as the rate dipped 72 cents, to $191.49. Other currencies bought, amounted to the equivalent of US$160,249 while selling was the equivalent of US$179,742.
Highs & Lows| The highest rate for buying the US dollar, closed with a fall of 10 cents at $113.10, the lowest buying and the highest selling rates remained unchanged at $91.85 and $117.70 respectively, whilst the lowest selling rate dropped $18.15 to $91.85.
The highest buying rate for the Canadian dollar and the lowest buying rate were unchanged at $105.20 and $83.21 respectively. The highest selling rate inched up by 24 cents to $107.27 and the lowest selling rate fell $1.25 to $100.25. The highest buying rate for the British Pound, fell 80 cents to $192, the lowest buying rate dropped $7.33 to $153.97, the highest selling rate was unchanged at $198.48 and lowest selling rate dived $29.01 to $156.49, the same level as on Tuesday.