| Kippreport.com

Jordan 2-year T-bond sale yield fall to 4.884 pct

August 19, 2010 2:59 by Reuters

The Central Bank of Jordan said on Thursday it sold 50 million dinars of debt in an auction of two-year T-bonds that saw average yields drop to 4.884 percent compared with 4.951 percent at the previous sale this month.

The Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) had invited offers for 50 million dinars ($70.5 million) worth of treasury bonds on Tuesday.

The sale on Wednesday was oversubscribed with offers worth 144 million dinars, but only yields ranging from 4.940 to 4.827 pct were accepted, the central bank said.

The bonds, which are open to both local and foreign investors, mature on Aug 19, 2012.

Traders say the central bank dismissed bids that exceeded five percent by several banks that saw room for higher yields.

Inflationary pressures have encouraged the domestic money market to bet on higher interest rates or at least that Jordan’s monetary authorities have less room for any cuts.

Yields on short-term 18 months and 2 year bonds have fallen slightly since early August and traders say demand for short term fixed income government debt was becoming more sensitive to uncertainty over the direction of yields in international markets.

Average yields shot up to 6 percent for 3-year Treasury bonds at the last auction on June 28 compared to 4.063 percent at the end of March.

Increased costs of local borrowing to finance the budget deficit was a factor prompting an accelerated pace of preparations to launch a $500 million Eurobond sovereign issue.

Monetary authorities have resorted since last year to issuing more T-bills and bonds to finance growing public debt.

(Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi and Lina Ejeilat; Editing by Toby Chopra) ($1 = 0.709 dinar)

Tags: central bank of Jordan, Central Bank of Jordan bond sale