March 8, 2011
The sale of six-month treasury bills, seen as a test of Greece's standing on the capital markets after a sharp downgrading of its credit rating by Moody's on Monday, has raised €1.62bn (£1.38bn), although at a higher price in a reflection of investor unease.
The country's debt management office auctioned the papers at 4.75%, 11 basis points higher than its previous issue in February. Foreign investment accounted for a third of the sale with the auction being 3.59 times oversubscribed compared with 4.59 times last month.
Officials put on a brave face saying the sale had surpassed the agency's original target of raising €1.25bn. "I am pleased to see continued foreign interest in Greek T-bill auctions," Petros Christodoulou, the debt agency's director general told Dow Jones.
The sale, which had been keenly watched by financial analysts, came 24 hours after Moody's cut Greece's rating by three notches to B1 from Ba1 – lower than Egypt's – citing increased default risk.
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