NEW YORK: The US Treasury Department on Monday paid higher interest rates to investors on $48 billion of bills as short-term borrowing rates have drifted higher ahead of the end of the first quarter.

The Treasury sold $24 billion of three-month bills at an interest rate of 0.035 percent, up from 0.020 percent last week, Treasury data showed. The ratio of bids submitted to the amount of three-month T-bills offered was 3.90, up from the prior week's 3.78.

Two weeks ago, this gauge of overall auction demand for this T-bill maturity fell to its lowest since Oct. 15, 2013.

The Treasury sold $24 billion of six-month bills at an interest rate of 0.135 percent, up from last week's 0.105 percent.

The bid-to-cover ratio of the latest six-month T-bill auction was 3.66, up from the prior week's 3.72. Two weeks earlier, it hit its lowest since Oct. 15, 2013.

Copyright Reuters, 2015