Spanish Bill Yields Fall at First Auction Since Draghi Plan
Spain sold 4.6 billion euros ($6 billion) of bills, just above the maximum target, and its borrowing costs fell at the first auction since the European Central Bank proposed buying the debt of cash-strapped nations.
Spain sold 12-month bills at 2.835 percent, compared with 3.07 percent when they were last auctioned on Aug. 21, and 18- month bills at 3.072 percent, compared with 3.335 percent.
The Madrid-based Treasury, which plans to sell another 4.5 billion euros of bonds on Sept. 20, said demand for the 12-month bills was 2.03 times the amount sold, compared with 1.91 last month, and 3.56 for the longer-dated bills, compared with 3.98.
Borrowing costs fell from the previous auction even as the impact of ECB President Mario Draghi’s proposal to buy bonds of countries that submit to rescue programs started to fade. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has delayed making a decision on whether to trigger the mechanism that Draghi announced two weeks ago, prompting an increase in 10-year yields yesterday to more than 6 percent.
The extra yield on Spanish benchmark 10-year bonds compared with German equivalents narrowed to 426 basis points at 10:45 a.m. in Madrid, compared with 440 basis points before the auction and 430 basis points yesterday.
On Sept. 20, Spain will sell its benchmark 10-year bond, maturing in January 2022 and securities due in October 2015. The Treasury said Sept. 6 it had sold 76.8 percent of the medium-and long-term debt it plans to sell this year. It hasn’t given data on the progress of bill sales.
To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Ross-Thomas at erossthomas@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Tobias Blattner, director of European economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets, discusses the possible impact of European Central Bank support for Spain on Italian bond yields. He talks with Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg)
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Brian Barry, an analyst at Investec Bank Plc, talks about the outlook for Spanish bonds. He speaks with Maryam Nemazee on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse." (Source: Bloomberg)
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