Ireland sells €500m of Treasury Bills by auction

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has today completed an auction of Irish Treasury Bills, selling the target amount of €500 million.

Total bids received amounted to €1.706 billion which was 3.4 times the amount on offer. The Treasury Bills, which have a maturity of three months, were sold at an annualised yield¹ of 0.24%.

Ireland celebrated a return to the bond markets earlier in the month after investors offered to lend a staggering €12b to the Government for 10 years.

The NTMA has been issuing bonds with gradually lengthening maturities since July last year, when the first bonds since the bailout were placed with investors.

¹ Market convention is to quote the yield on an annualised basis i.e. the rate of interest that would apply if the investment term was one year. As these Bills have a three-month maturity, the actual interest cost on them is proportionately less than the annualised rate.