Greece sells 1.3bn euros of 6-month T-bills, yield drops

ATHENS: Greece sold 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of six-month treasury bills on Tuesday to roll over a maturing issue at the lowest funding cost since January 2010 when the country's debt crisis began.

The T-bills were priced to yield 2.70 percent, down from 3.01 percent in an April auction, the country's debt agency (PDMA) said. The sale's bid-cover ratio was 2.65, down from 3.10 in the previous sale.

The amount raised included 300 million euros in non-competitive bids and the settlement date for Tuesday's auction will be May 9.

Athens has a stock of about 15 billion euros of T-bills, which it regularly refinances with the help of Greek banks which buy and then deposit them as collateral to draw liquidity from the ECB.