STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Thursday, 9 April 2015

[Demeter]

12. Greece raises 1.1 billion euros, sells all 6-month T-bills on offer

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/04/08/uk-eurozone-greece-tbills-idUKKBN0MZ0X020150408

Greece raised 1.138 billion euros ($1.24 billion) at an auction of six-month Treasury bills on Wednesday, moving the full amount on offer in the first of two sales this month as it tries to roll over debt and navigate its way through a cash crunch. Despite Athens' increasingly dire financial position, it was able to find domestic buyers to plug a gap of about 350 million euros (254 million pounds) stemming from foreign investors' refusal to roll over their own Greek T-bill holdings. The T-bills were sold at a yield of 2.97 percent, however, unchanged from a previous sale in March and the highest rate in 11 months. Athens is now paying to borrow for six months almost twice what Portugal pays to borrow for 10 years.

Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas put a brave face on the situation.

"It was a successful issue," he told Reuters. "Domestic investors covered the whole issue, including the share held by foreign investors."

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T-bills are the only source of commercial borrowing for the country's leftist-led coalition government which has already hit a 15 billion euro cap on such issues set by its EU/IMF lenders. The European Central Bank has turned down Greece's appeals to raise the limit on short-term debt issuance on grounds that the EU treaty bars monetary financing of governments. Greek banks - the main buyers in auctions - have been told by the ECB they cannot add to their holdings of Greek government debt to plug any gap resulting from foreign investors fleeing the sales.

Athens faces another refinancing test on April 15, when 1 billion euros of three-month paper matures.