Spain pays lower rates to raise 2.9bn euros

MADRID: Spain paid lower rates to raise 2.9 billion euros in a sale of three-month and six-month bonds on Tuesday, the central bank said.

The treasury raised 805 million euros (1.16 billion dollars) in three-month bills at an average interest rate of 1.357 percent, down sharply from the 1.899 percent paid at a similar auction on July 26, the Bank of Spain said.

It raised 2.136 billion euros in six-month bills, paying an interest rate of 2.187 percent compared to 2.519 percent last month.

Demand was three times the amount sold Tuesday for the six-month bills and eight times the amount sold for the three-month bills.

The sale confirmed an easing of rates, helped by the intervention of the European Central Bank in the bond markets from August 8 as the eurozone debt crisis threatened to engulf Spain and Italy, the eurozone’s fourth- and third-biggest economies.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011