Spain issues new bonds worth $3.3b

MADRID - The Spanish Treasury conducted a third successful bond auction in a week, selling 2,500 million euros ($3,308 million) of bonds at favorable interest rates.

Three-month bonds worth 1,736 million euros commanded interest rates of just 0.44 percent, a third of the rate paid in previous auctions.

Meanwhile, 764 million euros of six-month bonds were floated with an interest rate of 0.78 percent, well below the 1.9 percent applied in the previous auction.

The bond sale will be seen as a sign of investor confidence returning as demand for the bonds at Tuesday's auction was six times higher than the amount on offer. According to analyst, the auction of Spanish treasury bonds was helped by the news of a second bailout package being agreed for Greece.