MILAN: Italy paid more than it did a month ago to sell five- and 10-year bonds on Friday as jitters about a slowdown in Chinese growth made investors warier of holding riskier assets.
The yield on a new 10-year bond rose at auction to 1.95 percent from 1.83 percent at a sale of the same maturity a month ago.
The support provided to weaker euro zone bonds by the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme has cushioned the impact of stronger risk aversion, capping the rise in yields.
Italy sold a total of 7.5 billion euros ($8.5 billion) in bonds, at the top of its planned issue range.
The first tranche of the new BTP bond maturing in December 2025 drew bids worth 5.5 billion euros in bids, or nearly 1.4 times the amount sold.
It also sold a five-year bond due in May 2020 at an average 0.84 percent yield, up from 0.77 percent a month ago.
The bid-to-cover was 1.53 on Friday against 1.62 times.
A floating rate CCTeu bond maturing in June 2022 was sold at an average rate of 0.65 percent, against 0.67 percent in July.
The sale was covered 1.62 times, broadly in line with last month.
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