Fixed income analysis

Bulgaria's Finance Ministry reopened the 10.5 year issue of Government Securities (GS) issued on January 15, 2014 with maturity July 15, 2024.

The issue is a reference one in respect of the harmonized long term interest rate to evaluate convergence level, part of the Maastricht criteria in 2014, according to the press office of the Finance Ministry.

The Ministry of Finance successfully placed a one-year BGN-denominated discount Government Securities (GS) with maturity 10.09.2015.

At the auction held on 08.09.2014 the annual average weighted yield achieved on the approved orders is 0.78% and the spread to the benchmark German Bunds is 0.86%, according to a media statement of Bulgaria's Finance Ministry.

Greece raised 1.5 billion euros from the issue of a three-year bond on Thursday with a yield of 3.5 percent, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Athens said it received orders worth 3 billion euros. It had been expected to raise between 2.5 billion to 3 billion euros but faced lackluster demand following concerns about the health of a parent company of Portugal's largest bank.

A worldwide bond market surge pushed yields to the lowest levels in a year on growing evidence central banks can keep stimulating economic growth without igniting inflation.

By Lucy Meakin and Neal Armstrong

The advance in euro-area government bonds that pushed the 10-year yields of Ireland, Italy and Spain to record lows today is about to end, according to investors from BlueBay Asset Management LLP to BlackRock Inc.

Greece’s new five-year bond returned on Wednesday to the yield at which it was sold last week, after a turbulent few days of trading.

The bond issue – which was Greece’s first in four years and came just two years after the country defaulted – was issued at a yield of 4.95 percent last Thursday.

Greece was one of the few markets in which yields rose on Monday, as investors booked profits on the strongest bond rally in the eurozone this year.

Ten-year yields added 16 basis points to hit a day’s high of 6.47 percent on Monday.