Greece sold six-month treasury bills at a slightly higher yield than at a previous auction in March, raising funds to roll over €2.4 billion of maturing government paper later in the week.
The auction drew more interest from foreign investors, who bought about 41 per cent of the issue compared to 31 per cent at last month's auction as the over-borrowed euro zone member keeps funding itself over short durations.
Today's issue fetched €1.625 billion, including €375 million in non-competitive bids. The issue was priced to yield 4.80 per cent, up five basis points from last month and above the rate of about 4.2 per cent Greece pays on its EU-IMF bailout loans.
Up until March, Greece was funding itself on short durations at a lower cost than the 5.2 per cent rate on its bailout loans. A summit of euro zone leaders last month agreed to cut the rate by one percentage point and stretch out the repayment period.
"The yield was around where we expected, the cover ratio as well," said a bond dealer at a big Greek bank. "Talk of debt restructuring does not affect treasury bills, they would not be included. The higher allocation to foreign buyers is positive."
Reuters
