France's borrowing costs fall in $9.7BN auction

[May 03, 2012]  PARIS (AP) -- France's borrowing costs fell in a bond auction that sold (EURO)7.4 billion ($9.7 billion) in long-term debt.

The yield, or interest rate, on the largest issue -- a 10-year bond -- edged down from 2.98 percent to 2.96 percent when it was last issued in April.

Another class of 10-year bond saw a far more significant drop from 3.29 percent to 2.85 percent when it was issued in January.

In another sign of investor confidence, demand was high and the amount of money raised in Thursday's auction was at the very top of the range set out by the French Treasury.

France has occasionally been hit by investor concerns that its levels of debt are unsustainable. Amid renewed turmoil in the eurozone, investors were only lukewarm at its last auction.

[Associated Press]

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