The sale of 4.6 billion euros of 2.25 percent September 2021 bonds drew bids worth 1.4 times the total amount offered compared with 1.2 times at a previous sale of 10-year Bunds in July.

The September Bund future extended losses to hit a session 134.95, down 33 ticks on the day, before recovering slightly to trade 20 ticks lower at 135.08.

"The auction is pretty much as expected, that is slightly soft in terms of absolute quantity of bids, but nothing particularly poor and certainly not bad for a new issue at such a low yield," said Peter Chatwell, rate strategist at Credit Agricole in London.

Copyright Reuters, 2011