NTMA to sell €500m of bonds this week

Ireland will return to the bond market on Thursday with an auction of €500 million of three-month treasury bills.

The announcement by the National Treasury Management Agency follows the sale of Ireland's first 10-year bonds since it entered the EU-International Monetary Fund bailout.

Bids on the sale last week totalled€12 billion, well above the €3 billion bonds on offer, with an annualised yield of 4.15 per cent.

A €500 million sale of three-month bills was also made last month, which were sold at an annualised yield of 0.24 per cent.

The total bids received at auction came to €1.637 billion, 3.3 times the amount on offer.

The auction comes as the country seeks to raise €10 billion on the bond market in preparation to exit the EU-International Monetary Fund bailout programme later this year.