Greece pays increased rate to raise 1.3 bn euros

Greece paid higher rates to raise 1.3 billion euros (USD$1.7 billion) in a sale of 6-month treasury bills on Tuesday, two days after a shock anti-austerity vote, the debt management agency said. "Total bids reached 2.6 billion euros (USD$3.4 billion) and the amount finally accepted was 1.30 billion euros," the agency said in a statement, with the interest paid to investors at 4.69 percent, up from 4.55 percent at the last equivalent sale on April 10. The auction came as Greek voters on Sunday dealt a stinging rebuke to political parties that spearheaded austerity cuts over the past two years. Conservative New Democracy and socialist Pasok, which have alternated in power since 1974, saw their share of the vote collapse to 32.1 percent on Sunday from 77.4 percent at the last election as voters supported instead a raft of anti-austerity parties. This left the two parties, which favour sticking to the bailout but with easier terms, with 149 MPs in the 300-seat parliament, insufficient for a re-run of the outgoing coalition led by technocrat Lucas Papademos. The radical leftist Syriza party was set on Tuesday to begin trying to build an anti-austerity cabinet and prevent fresh elections, a day after the conservatives failed to form a coalition government.