Debt auctions lift markets

SPAIN and Italy spread cheer through eurozone markets yesterday with successful debt auctions at sharply lower borrowing costs, in 2012’s first real test of appetite for debt from the eurozone’s periphery.

The Spanish Treasury raised €10 billion from the auction of three bonds, double its target of €5bn, and yields dropped by about 1%.

Italy also fared well, paying less than half what it did a month ago to sell one-year bills at its first auction of the year.