Italy pays more to raise fresh funds

amid fears it could drag down other eurozone members, including Rome.
The Italian treasury issued eight billion euros (US$11,4 billion) in six-month bonds and 2,5 billion euros of bonds due in 2013, with investors submitting bids worth 18,3 billion euros. The government, however, had to pay a yield – or rate of return for investors – of 1 988 percent on the six-month bonds, up sharply from the 1 657 percent paid at the last previous sale of the paper. On the 2013 bonds, the yield jumped to 3 219 percent from 2 851 percent.
The sales “went fairly smoothly, without too much problem. Italy is still a little bit outside (the club of weak eurozone states) even if the contagion effect (from the Greek crisis) is making itself felt,” said Jean-Francois Robin, bond strategist at French investment house Natixis. – AFP.