Greece to auction 300 mln eur 26-week T-bills

Greece will auction 300 million euros ($424 million) of 26-week T-bills on Nov. 9, continuing its strategy of monthly short-term debt sales, the country's debt agency (PDMA) said on Friday.

Greece switched to monthly issues of short-term government paper from quarterly sales in September, seeking to improve cash management as it struggles to emerge from its debt crisis.

Successful issues of short-term debt could set the stage for Athens to become a more active issuer again after fears of it defaulting on its burgeoning debt effectively shut it out from the market.

The PDMA does not face rollovers this month. There is a small rollover next month as 480 million euros of three-month paper matures on Dec. 24.

Greece sold 1.17 billion euros of six-month T-bills at an average yield of 4.54 percent on Oct. 12, down 28 basis points from 4.82 percent in a September sale. But the yield spreads of 10-year Greek government bonds over bunds have since widened to more than 850 basis points.

PDMA said the settlement date for the 26-week T-bill auction will be Nov. 12. Only primary dealers will be allowed to participate and no commission will be paid.

It said non-competitive bids of up to 30 percent of the auctioned amount may be submitted during the auction. Additionally, non-competitive bids up to another 30 percent of the auctioned amount may be submitted until Nov. 11.