NTMA to hold bond auction in February

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), which sold €4 billion of bonds on Wednesday, has outlined that it plans to carry out a bond auction on February 14th.

The State’s debt office said on Thursday that it also plans to auction short-term notes, known as Treasury Bills, on March 14th.

The NTMA is aiming to raise between €14 billion and €18 billion of long-term debt in capital markets this year as it continues its practice of raising money ahead of schedule to meet bond maturities.

In a note to clients on Thursday, Cantor Fitzgerald’s head of fixed-income strategy, Ryan McGrath, said the success of the bond deal this week showed that investors chose to look beyond the end last month of the European Central Bank’s €2.6 trillion quantitative easing (QE) bond-buying programme, Brexit, and strong competition among European sovereigns for new funds in the first few weeks of January.

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“The absence of QE, upcoming Brexit risks and a heavy supply schedule gave investors a number of excuses to ‘pass’ on the Irish deal, however, the market chose to focus on Ireland’s strong fiscal and economic fundamentals,” Mr McGrath said, noting that a total of €18.1 billion of orders were placed for the €4 billion of bonds on offer.