Spain auctions off 4.7 bln euros of treasury bonds

The Spanish Treasury said on Thursday it has raised 4.76 billion euros (6.1 billion U.S. dollars) by successfully selling three-, five- and 20-year bonds. The Treasury said it sold 992 million euros of 3-year bonds at an average interest rate of 3.66 percent and a marginal rate of 3.678. This contrasted with the average and marginal rates of 3.956 percent and 4.028 percent paid in October in the previous auction of the 3-year bonds. A total of 3.04 billion euros of 5-year bonds were auctioned at an average interest rate of 4.680 percent, while the marginal rate was 4.769 percent with demand 1.6 times of the offer. The Treasury also made an auction of 20-year bond worth 732 million euros at the rate of 6.328 percent, higher than the 4.777 percent it paid in October 2010, the last time the 20-year bonds were issued. The auction took place in the context of the pessimistic predictions by the European Commission, which expected the Spanish economy to shrink by 1.4 percent in 2013. (1 euro=1.28 U.S. dollars)