china_railwaysSHANGHAI: China's Ministry of Railways auctioned 15 billion yuan ($2.36 billion) of 10-year bonds on Tuesday at a yield of 4.99 percent, traders said.

The ministry also auctioned 15 billion yuan of seven-year bonds at a yield of 4.70 percent, up slightly from the last sale of 4.63 percent.

It is the first 10-year tenor sold by the ministry this year. The previous three auctions comprised of seven- and 20-year tenors.

The cash-starved ministry plans to sell a total of 100 billion yuan in enterprise bonds for 2011, sources told Reuters.

So far, the four batches amounted to the 100 billion yuan target, according to Reuters calculation.

A train crash that killed 40 people in July caused banks and investors to shun the industry, with construction on some 10,000 kilometers of railways suspended and contractors, suppliers and migrant workers left unpaid, according to earlier local media reports.

To make railway bonds more attractive, the government has explicitly said it would back the ministry's bonds.

Copyright Reuters, 2011

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