Euro Weaker after Debt Auctions - 19.4.2012

Spain held today its second debt auction in the week, having raised 2.541 billion euros, slightly more than announced maximum target of 2.5 billion euros. The government has already raised more than 3 billion euros on Tuesday at a sale of short-term debt. The average rate of return investors demanded for 2-year notes decreased from 3.49% at a previous auction to 3.46% at today’s auction, while the rate for 10-year securities rose from 5.4% to 5.74%. Although bid to cover ratios were relatively strong, 3.3 and 2.4 for 2-year and 10-year papers respectively, the auction failed to improve considerably investor confidence. The single currency is trading closer to the lower border of its daily range 1.3105-1.3165 against the dollar following the announcement of the auction results.