Investors pay to lend Germany money for 12 months

Investors paid to lend Germany money for 12 months at an auction on Monday, the country's central bank said, as they continue to flock to the safe haven of Europe's top economy. The yield or rate of return at the auction of 12-month debt was a record low of minus 0.054 percent, the Bundesbank, which organised the sale, said in a statement. At its last auction of 12-month bonds in June, Germany paid an average rate of plus 0.0191 percent. A negative yield means that investors are actually paying to lend Germany money. Last week, yields on German sovereign bonds with a slightly long maturity of two years also turned negative for the first time. In the auction of 12-month bills, known as "bubills" on Monday, the Bundesbank said it received 6.338 billion euros ($7.7 billion) in bids. Some 2.703 billion euros were allotted, meaning the so-called bid-to-cover ratio was 2.3, with 297 million euros set aside for market-tending purposes, the statement said.