SPAIN HAS SUCCESSFULLY issued a fresh round of new government bonds this morning – a move which has seen the Euro pick up speed in its recovery against the dollar.

Europe’s fourth-largest economy successfully issued €2.5bn in new bonds, the first issue undertaken since the Irish bailout was announced, with demand for the issue doubling the amount on offer.

The average yield on the bonds – which mature in October 2013 – was 3.717%. That rate was massively up on the 2.527% rate commanded for the last similar sale two months ago, but significantly down on the same price being offered on second-hand markets.

There, Spanish bonds had opened at 3.970%. 10-year bonds are also now down, as are those of Italy, while Portugal’s have remained broadly flat.

The auction has driven the Euro back up from its two-month lows of earlier in the week, gaining 0.44 of a cent against the US dollar, up to $1.3182.

European stock markets are also up across the board by about 0.5%, ahead of the ECB’s expected announcements on new measures to tackle the debt crisis at 12:45pm.

Those measures could include the resumption of purchases of Eurozone bonds by the ECB centrally, which would be intended to drive the market price to more sustainable levels.