The 2.8 billion euro sale of 5-year bonds came at a gross yield of 3.9 percent, and the 1.98 billion euros of 15-year BTP bonds were sold at a yield of 5.34 percent.

COMMENTARY:

CHIARA CREMONESI, STRATEGIST UNICREDIT

"Italy has nearly placed the maximum of the planned range, more or less in line with the last auction. For the five-year bond, the bid-to-cover ratio has been clearly higher than the last auction while the 15-year is only slightly less.

"The bonds have been issued above the market just before the auction and this is a positive sign.

"Certainly the amount has been less than the average, and this has helped, but let's not forget that it has been a difficult week for the periphery and very heavy in terms of competing offers. And so this is a further positive result, which confirms the interest for Italian paper."

MARC OSTWALD, STRATEGIST, MONUMENT SECURITIES, LONDON

"In Italy it's never actually a problem of selling the bond because domestic demand is so large that between the banks and the various funds it will be taken regardless of what foreigners may or may not do.

"But there comes a point when bearing the cost of rising yields does become a bit of an issue. I don't think we're quite there yet. Italy is certainly not belonging to any of the so-called problem groups.

"The good part is that it's gone and they achieved pretty much the top end of what they were aiming to sell, the bad news is that yields are rising, but we didn't need the auction to see that yields are rising, that was always going to be the case."

MICHAEL LEISTER, STRATEGIST, WESTLB, DUSSELDORF

"At first glance, the size looks a bit lower, bid-cover for the five-year actually does look pretty much average at 1.5. In the 15-year the bid-cover's a bit weaker, but it was also pretty much along expectations, given that due to the large offer of the Spanish 15-year benchmark, there was quite a lot for the market to digest in terms of periphery supply."

"Overall it's still sort of a mixed story, on one hand in the spreads versus Bunds and versus core issuers, we've seen some concessions but they've neen pretty much stable. But in terms of outright yields, there's been quite a sharp rise, which I guess prompted many investors to bid the auction despite the negative headlines and the comeback of the debt crisis."

PETER CHATWELL, RATE STRATEGIST, CREDIT AGRICOLE, LONDON

"The five-year has been the stronger auction, which is reflected in the bond's subsequent outperformance of five-year Spain. The 15-year on the other hand looks to be a bit heavy, possibly because of other recent supply into that part of the curve. All in all not strong auctions but well enough considering this morning's pressure on financial markets and drop in risk appetite."