The Malaysia-based International Islamic Liquidity Management Corp (IILM) lengthened maturities in its Islamic bond programme on Monday by auctioning $400 million of six-month sukuk, its first sale of that tenor.

The IILM, a consortium of central banks from Asia, the Middle East and Africa, began the programme last year to address a shortage of instruments Islamic banks can use to manage short-term liquidity. Previously, it had only issued three-month paper.

The IILM sold the six-month sukuk at a profit rate of 0.729 percent, attracting $652 million of bids, the Malaysian central bank's website showed. It also sold $390 million of three-month sukuk at 0.525 percent, attracting $523 million of bids.

The issues were bought by primary dealers at nine banks across the Islamic world, increasing IILM's outstanding sukuk to $1.65 billion from $1.35 billion, the group said in a statement.

It has said it may eventually expand issuance to $2 billion or more; the programme permits maturities of up to one year. – Reuters