EURO GOVT-Spanish yields rise after auction despite ECB buying
Thu Sep 1, 2011 8:20am EDT
* Spanish debt sale meets lukewarm demand
* Bunds rally on manufacturing data, Spanish auction
* Attention turns to U.S. manufacturing, jobs data (Recasts, updates prices, adds quotes)
By
Ana Nicolaci da Costa
LONDON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Spanish government bond yields rose on Thursday after a lukewarm auction of new five-year
bonds renewed pressure on the euro zone's fourth largest economy even as the European Central Bank bought its debt in the secondary market.
The move higher in Spanish and Italian yields on Thursday underscored a growing view among analysts that the ECB's policy to buy Italian and Spanish debt to keep yields at affordable levels was only a palliative and may become unsustainable.
The ECB began buying Italian and Spanish bonds in the secondary market more than three weeks ago to drive down yields and was active again on Thursday.
"The market now is not so willing to buy, especially after the spread tightening (over German yields). It will not be easy for
Italy and Spain to issue in this environment," said Alessandro Giansati, rate strategist at ING in Amsterdam.
Spain's first bond auction in a month drew sluggish demand and the Treasury paid above the yield on existing five-year paper to get the bond away. .
The average yield at the sale of the new five-year bond was 4.489 percent, compared to a yield of 4.38 percent in the secondary market around the time of the auction.
The 10-year Spanish/German bond yield spread widened 11 basis points to 298 bps, while the Italian equivalent was up 9 bps at 304.
"The risk of further (spread) widening is still there and the downside risk might be greater than the upside risk for prices. That's kind of reflected in the relatively average auctions," said Elisabeth Afseth, strategist at Evolution Securities.
The Bund future FGBLc1 rallied 64 ticks on the day to 135.20 as a key business survey showed
euro zone manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in almost two years in August and on persistent worries over the region's debt crisis.
"
We still have the collateral issue with Finland unresolved, we still have the EFSF (euro zone rescue fund) plans that need to be (approved) and we have the latest developments in Italy which are also not very positive for market sentiment," Elwin de Groot, senior market economist at Rabobank, said.
The Italian government backtracked on parts of its widely criticised austerity package on Monday.
Analysts also say a row over Finland's deal with Greece to obtain collateral in exchange for loans could jeopardise a second Greek bailout. .
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet approved new powers for the euro zone's bailout fund on Wednesday, but some members of her centre-right coalition are threatening to oppose such a boost when the Bundestag (lower house) votes on Sept. 29. .
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Un'occhiata ai bond dell'Eurozona ...
Sulla Spagna stesso effetto dell'asta di ieri sull'Italia.