Bonds

Greece’s 10-year bonds fell a third day, pushing the yield up by the most in more than 15 months, on concern the government’s plan to end its bailout early will leave the nation unable to raise funding sustainably.

Investors’ love affair with low-rated but high-yielding eurozone bonds is starting to wane, as political risks dent faith that the European Central Bank alone will be able to ensure the bloc’s recovery.

Alastair Marsh & Katie Linsell

Mario Draghi’s words have lost none of their potency. Just look at the bond market where the European Central Bank president’s hints about further stimulus soothed investors unsettled by turmoil from Ukraine to Iraq.

Fitch Ratings has upgraded the mortgage-covered bond programs of four Greek banks.

The banks are National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, Eurobank Ergasias and Piraeus Bank to B-/Stable/B with a b- viability rating (VR.

The outlook is stable, reflecting that on the respective banks’ Issuer Default Ratings (IDR).

By Lukanyo Mnyanda & David Goodman

Greece raised 1.5 billion euros ($2.04 billion) in a debt sale that fell short of analyst estimates on size and yield as it took place amid a selloff in higher-yielding bonds across the euro area.

By Marius Zaharia

Greek yields dipped on Thursday as the aid recipient readied an issue of three-year bonds in its second debt sale since its default, taking advantage of a European Central Bank promise to make long-term loans to banks.

 Government expects to draw up to 3 billion euros from the market at an interest rate of 3.2 to 3.5 percent

By Sotiris Nikas

Three months after Greece’s successful return to the international market, the Finance Ministry is testing investors’ intentions for a second time with the issue of three-year bonds.

Fitch Ratings announced on Monday it has affirmed the rating of Bank of Cyprus’s 1-billion-euro outstanding residential mortgage covered bonds at CCC.

This follows the upgrade of BoC’s long-term issuer default rating (IDR) to CC from RD (Restricted Default) as a result of the lifting of capital controls in Cyprus.

Fitch has also upgraded Hellenic Bank to CCC from RD. [Reuters]

By John Geddie

Cyprus is on the verge of making the fastest comeback to markets of any bailed-out euro zone country when it sells a new five-year bond later on Wednesday.

The performance of the Greek residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market was stable during the three months ended April 2014, according to the latest indices published by Moody’s Investors Service.

The 90+ day delinquencies of Greek RMBS transactions rose to 5.6 percent of the current balance in April 2014 from 4.3 percent in April 2013.