Treasury sails through tender of short-term paper

The Spanish Treasury comfortably negotiated Tuesday’s tender of short-dated paper, with yields mostly in line with those prevailing in the market.

The tender took place in the wake of the slush fund scandal that has rocked the ruling Popular Party, and ahead of European Central bank President Mario Draghi’s appearance in the Spanish lower house in a closed-door meeting.

The debt management arm of the Economy Ministry sold 5.570 billion euros in six-month and one-year bills, slightly above the upper range of its target of 5.5 billion. Total demand for the two issues amounted to 13.311 billion euros, some 2.4 times the amount sold.

“There were no significant developments. The yields were in line with those in the market, and continue to show investor appetite for Spanish paper, particularly for short-dated paper,” Reuters quoted Citigroup strategist in Spain, José Luis Martínez, as saying.

The Treasury sold 2.546 billion euros in six-month bills at an average yield of 0.858 percent, slightly below the 0.888 percent it offered at a tender in January. It issued 3.023 billion euros in one-year paper as the yield offered rose slightly to 1.548 percent from 1.472 percent.

Since the start of the year, the Treasury has placed 37.470 billion euros out of the planned amount for the year of up to 230 billion euros.