Strong demand for EU bailout fund bonds: Bundesbank
(FRANKFURT) - The EU's bailout fund, the EFSF, attracted strong demand on Tuesday at an auction of three-month debt, Germany's central bank said.
The Bundesbank, which organised the auction, said it had received 6.823 billion euros' ($8.9 billion) worth of bids for 3.443 billion euros' worth of three-month bonds, at an average yield of 0.0516 percent.
The bid-cover ratio, closely watched by the markets, was 2.0, meaning the auction was oversubscribed by that amount.
In January, the Standard and Poor's ratings agency downgraded the EFSF by one notch to AA+ but said it would restore its top AAA ranking if the fund obtains additional guarantees.
The decision was the result of downgrades to France's and Austria's ratings from AAA since they served as top-level guarantors of the fund, S&P said at the time.
Text and Picture Copyright 2012 AFP. All other Copyright 2012 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.
