NTMA sells €500m worth of bills in bond auction

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has successfully completed its latest short-term bond auction, with €500m worth of treasury bills sold at a marginally improved interest rate.

The sale of the ‘T-Bills’ — which will mature in September — marks the sixth consecutive month the NTMA has conducted such an auction and is part of an ongoing plan to keep Ireland active in the markets ahead of the planned exit from the troika bailout programme later this year.

Yesterday’s auction saw total bids amount to €1.46bn, nearly three times the amount on offer. The bills were sold at an annualised interest rate, or yield, of 0.2%; up slightly on the 0.129% yield seen in May’s ‘T-Bill’ auction.