Yields on Bulgaria's 10-Yr T-Notes Fall to 7.25%

The additional issue was almost three times oversubscribed just like the previous one as bidders offered to buy 85.9 million levs of government securities, the central bank, which auctions government papers on behalf of the Finance Ministry, said in a statement.

The issue bears an annual interest rate of 4.95%, with the last coupon payment due upon maturity on January 28, 2019, the statement said.

Wednesday's auction produced a maximum offered yield of 7.28% and a minimum offered yield of 7.20%. The lowest accepted price was 85.21 levs and the highest accepted price was 85.64 levs. The issue was placed at an average price of 85.38% of par.

The finance ministry usually auctions government securities on Mondays but due to high investor interest at the previous auction it decided to hold another auction within the week, saying it believed increased investor interest was a direct consequence of growing confidence in government policy.

Wednesday's issue was the sixth batch of 10-year T-notes which the Finance Ministry has offered so far this year. The first issue, auctioned in January, yielded an average annual 7.21%, the second issue, sold in April, produced an annual yield of 7.11% on average and the third batch, auctioned in May, produced an average yield of 7.47% as the issue was slightly oversubscribed. The fourth batch offered in July yielded an average 7.99%.

The ministry has said it would offer up to 350 million levs in 10-year T-notes in 2009.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)