The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) sold €500 million in six-month treasury bills on Thursday morning, at an average yield, or interest rate, of -0.22 per cent.

The transaction marked the second time the NTMA has brought treasury bills to the market so far in 2016.

The bills, which have a maturity date of December 19th 2016, achieved an average yield of -0.22 per cent, the same yield as at the auction on March 10th. Total bids amounted to € 1.347 billion which gave a bid-to-cover of 2.70, compared with 2.94 at the previous auction.

Last month the NTMA raised € 750 million from the sale of bonds which mature in 2022. The notes were priced to carry a yield of 0.157 per cent. This concluded € 5.5 billion in longer-term funding out of a target range of € 6 - € 10 billion for 2016.