The Bundesbank this morning said that the EU's bail-out fund, the EFSF, attracted strong demand this morning at an auction of six-month debt.
The German Central bank, which organised the auction, said it received €5.2 billion worth of bids for €1.9 billion of six-month bonds, at an average yield or interest rate of 0.2040%.
That was slightly higher than last month when an auction of six-month debt brought an average yield of 0.1908%.
The bid-cover ratio, closely watched by the markets, was 2.7, meaning the auction was oversubscribed by that amount.
The EFSF borrows money from the markets at low rates and lends it to countries having difficulty in raising their own financing, such as Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
In addition to its short-term debt auctions, the EFSF also borrows funds long term and on Monday it successfully placed €1.5 billion in 20-year bonds at a yield of 3.956%.
