Germany raises 4 bn euros in bond auction

Germany raised 4.0 billion euros ($4.2 billion) on Wednesday with a sale of it 10-year bonds, considered the gold standard of eurozone debt. Germany received 5.14 billion euros' ($6.69 billion) worth of bids for its offering of 5.0 billion euros. The average yield on the 4.0 billion euros in bonds sold was 1.93 percent, up marginally from the 1.905 percent on the secondary market on Tuesday evening. Germany's Finance Agency held back one billion euros in bonds to sell later on the secondary market in what is a standard practice. In November, a similar auction of 10-year debt attracted minimal demand, sending markets into tailspin as investors feared that even Germany was losing its safe-haven status due to the eurozone crisis. At that time, Germany received bids for only 3.9 billion euros' worth of Bunds, despite offering 6.0 billion euros, in what the Finance Agency called a "reflection of the extraordinarily nervous market conditions." The average yield on that auction was 1.98 percent, the agency added.