LISBON, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Portugal placed 750 million euros (841 million U.S. dollars) in seven and 21-year treasury bonds on Wednesday at higher average yields than in the previous comparable auctions, the Portuguese Treasury and Debt Management Agency (IGCP) said.
IGCP said it placed 500 million euros in seven-year bonds at an average yield of 2.82 percent against the 2.36 percent in the previous auction of six-year bonds in July.
The agency also placed 250 million euros in 21-year bonds at an average yield of 4.04 percent against 3.23 percent in the previous auction of 22-year bonds in October 2015.
Demand for the seven-year bonds was 1.68 times more than the amount placed while demand for the 21-year bonds was 2.63 times more than the amount placed.
IGCP had said it was expecting to raise between 750 million and one billion euros in total.
The director of asset management at Banco Carregosa in Lisbon, Filipe Silva, said demand was good but the fact that the issue amount was the minimum target may just mean the IGCP did not want to place more debt.
"Despite an increased yield, these are low rates compared to records for Portuguese debt," he said. All European debt has seen premiums and risks increase in the last few days and Portuguese debt just followed that trend, he added.
