Financial markets

Greece sold 488 million euros ($535.82 million) of three-month treasury bills to refinance a maturing issue with the yield turning negative for the first time ever, the country's debt agency PDMA said on Wednesday.

The debt agency sold the new paper at a yield of -0.02 percent, down from 0.095 percent, in a previous sale in August.

"We see a stable, balanced market in the main products and the price levels are currently identical to those of last year," Vladimir Ivanov, chairman of the State Commission for Commodity Exchanges and Markets, said in the studio of the morning block. The only altered product price is for pork meat.

The Prime Minister of the State Commission on Stock Exchanges and Markets Vladimir Ivanov shared that the pork prices in the country are artificially inflated, "Trud" newspaper reported. The price at the Bulgarian markets is around BGN 8.50 per kg. Meanwhile  Docked on the international stock exchange, the price drops to USD 1.44 dollars per kilogram.

Greece's 10-year bond that was issued last March is to be reopened next week in a bid to enhance the liquidity of the bond market after the rapid decline in Greek debt yields to historic lows.

Hellenic Petroleum (HELPE) is hastening to make the most of the favorable climate in international sovereign and corporate bond markets, especially as far as Greek securities are concerned, and has started the process for the issue of a five-year bond.

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) announces the launch of the FinTech Innovation Hub project, a platform dedicated to dialogue with companies that develop innovative solutions of general public interest in the field of payment and financial services (FinTech), according to a release from the institution.

Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will be in London on Thursday, where he will speak about the country's prospects at the 14th Annual Roadshow organized by the Athens Stock Exchange, in collaboration with leading international investment banks and brokerage firms in Greece and abroad.

The insurance market has recorded a solid growth this year, overall and by segments, with insurance companies' solvency and liquidity levels being more or less the same as those recorded in 2018, according to the head of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), Leonardo Badea.

The Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) is considering swapping bonds from the 2012 private sector involvement (PSI) debt easing scheme that did not participate in the 2017 swap, by reopening last March's 10-year bond issue. Sources say that US bank Goldman Sachs will run the project.

The prospect of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) to promote to emerging market status, the diversification of BVB products, the need for setting up the Central Counterparty and the stage of the Sovereign Investment Fund are among the main topics the second Capital Market Forum taking place this Friday in Bucharest will be looking at; the event is organized by the Financial Intelligence econom