ECB support boosts Spanish debt sales

Hefty Spanish short-term debt sales went smoothly on Tuesday after bond buying by the European Central Bank eased concerns financing costs would be left to spiral to unsustainable levels for the bloc’s weaker economies. Spain’s Treasury sold 4.15 billion euros ($5.85 billion) of 12-month T-bills, and 1.54 billion euros of 18-month bills, which together were at the top end of its 5-6 billion euro target, and up from 4.4 billion euros sold last month.The Treasury’s path was assisted by the ECB’s move to buy 22 billion euros of euro zone debt in the past week as it attempts to ensure the debt crisis does not engulf Italy and Spain, the bloc’s third and fourth largest economies.Fellow struggler Greece sold 1.3 billion euros of three-month T-bills, also at lower yields compared with the previous auction, while heavily indebted Belgium saw its financing costs on its three-month paper fall to their lowest level since February. Analysts said the Spanish auction was well supported, but the ECB was a key factor in shrinking financing costs. “The cost of funding is around 30-35 basis points down, clearly an indirect effect of the ECB going into the market buying Spanish bonds,” said Chiara Cremonesi, analyst at UniCredit. The bills drew comfortable demand from investors, even if concerns over the outlook for Spain, hampered by weak growth and a big public deficit, persist.Official data showed Spain’s economy grew by 0.2 per cent between April and June on a quarterly basis, down from 0.3 per cent in the first quarter. Yields on the Spanish sales fell from the last time they were both sold in mid-July. From / Gulf Today