Greece raises $531 million in debt sale

ATHENS: Greece's debt management agency says it has raised 390 million euro ($531 million) in the sale of 13-week treasury bills, but at a higher interest rate than a similar auction last month.

The agency said Tuesday's sale, originally for 300 million euro, resulted in a yield of 4.1 per cent, compared with 3.75 per cent in a three-month T-bill auction on October 19. Tuesday's auction was oversubscribed 4.98 times compared with 5.19 times on Oct 19.

Greece began monthly treasury bill sales in September to maintain a presence in the market after its financial crisis blocked it out of the long-term debt market, with investors demanding prohibitively high interest rates for its bonds.

Athens is receiving 110 billion euro ($150 billion) in rescue loans from the International Monetary Fund and other Eurozone countries.