Weak demand for Berlin’s debt at record low yield
GERMANY saw muted demand at an auction of its ten-year debt yesterday after Berlin refused to accept offers that were not at record low yields.
But the UK had little trouble offloading £3.75bn’s worth of five-year debt. The sale, which saw Britain pay an average yield of 1.75 per cent, was two times over-subscribed.
By contrast, while Germany paid its lowest yield ever to sell ten-year debt, the sale was only 1.3 times subscribed.
Berlin sold ten-year bonds with a yield of just two per cent and the average yield it paid for the auction of €4bn in long-term bonds was down to 1.93 per cent.
The aim had been to sell €5bn (£4.14bn), making the sale somewhat disappointing, albeit far better than its previous disastrous auction of similar bonds in November.
Meanwhile, Portugal sold off €1bn of three-month bonds at with yields at a seven-month low. While Lisbon is mostly sustained on official bailout funds, it periodically rolls over some of its short-term private debt.