State debt agency places €1bn in treasury bills at negative yields
The Portuguese debt agency placed one billion euros in treasury bills on the market, at negative yields.
Portugal on Wednesday placed €1 billion in treasury bills with investors at negative yields, higher in the case of three-month bills and lower in the case of 11-month bills, announced the state debt management agency, the IGCP.
The amount placed was the minimum previously announced for the operation.
According to the IGCP website, it placed €850 million in 11-month bills at an average yield of -0.363%, again negative and still lower than that recorded on 17 October, when €1 billion of bills at that maturity were placed at an average yield of -0.260%.
The IGCP also placed €150 million in three-month bills at an average yield of -0.389%, again negative but slightly higher than that verified on 17 October, when €250 million in bills of the same maturity were placed at a yield of -0.426%.
Total demand amounted to €1.988 billion for the 11-months bills, or 2.34 times the amount on offer, and €905 million for the three-month bills, or 6.03 times the amount to be placed.
The IGCP had announced that the bills to be auctioned on Wednesday mature on 17 May this year and 17 January 2020 and that the overall amount targeted was between €1 billion and €1.25 billion.
