MADRID: Spain sold 3.5 billion euros ($3.74 billion) in debt at a triple bond auction on Thursday, with yields falling across all maturities amid heightened expectations of further European Central Bank stimulus in the coming weeks.
Spain hit its mid-range sales target, after a weak auction by Germany a day earlier suggested that investors' demand for low yields was waning.
Spain had sold around 96 percent of its end-of-year medium- and long-term debt target following the auction, with just two bond auctions remaining.
The Spanish Treasury sold 1.28 billion euros of the 0.25 percent bond due April 30, 2018, at an average yield of 0.124 percent. The marginal yield marked a record low for the paper, according to Treasury data. The bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand, was 3.3 times, compared to 3.1 in October.
It issued 950 million euros of the bond due July 30, 2020 which carries a 1.15 percent coupon. That bond sold for an average yield of 0.566 percent compared to 0.875 percent last month, and demand outstripped the offer by 3.6 times.
Spain printed 1.28 billion euros of the longest-dated bond due Jan. 31, 2023, with a 5.4 percent coupon, at a yield of 1.184 percent, while the bid-to-cover ratio was 2.4. When that paper was last sold in June, the yield was 1.198 percent and the bond was oversubscribed by 2.3 times.
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