Spain Auctions

Spain Auctions: Spain sells 3 bln eur in bills at near record yields Spain's Treasury paid the highest average yield since the birth of the euro to issue 12-mth bills on Tue in a key test of investor appetite for debt from a country many believe will soon be forced to apply for international aid. Madrid issued 3b euros ($3.77b) of 12- and 18-mth bills, at the top end of its target. The yield for the longer-dated paper was the highest since Nov when election uncertainty in Spain and global market jitters pushed yields on the same bill to 14-year highs. The Treasury sold 2.4b euros of the 12-mth T-bill at an average yield of 5.074% vs 2.985% at the last auction for debt of this maturity in May. The paper was 2.2 times subscribed compared to 1.8 last month. Spain sold 639 ieuros of 18-mth paper at an average yield of 5.107% after 3.302% last mth, with bid-to-cover ratio at 4.4, up from 3.2 in May. Spain faces a harsher test of investor appetite on Thursday when it auctions up to 2 b euros maturing in April 30, 2014, July 30, 2015 and July 30, 2017.($1 = 0.7949 euros)