THE NATIONAL TREASURY MANAGEMENT AGENCY has raised another €400m of funding for the Irish Exchequer this morning through the auction of short-term bills, though the amount raised was less than the maximum amount it said it may seek.

€300m was raised in bills maturing in five months, on February 14, with an average yield of 1.907%, while another €100m was raised in seven-month bills at an average yield of 2.23%, maturing on April 18.

The five-month bills were oversubscribed by 4.1 times, while the seven-month bills were oversubscribed by 11.7 times.

At the last short-term bill auction two weeks ago, bills were oversubscribed by 9.4 and 5.4 times respectively.

The yield on the five-month bill was down on the 1.925% offered when similar bills were sold six months ago, but the seven-month yield was up on the 2.19% sold last time around.

The NTMA had said it would raise between €300m and €500m in total – the second time in succession that it has raised less than the maximum amount indicated.

The sale comes two days after the government raised €1.5bn in auctioning fresh four-year and eight-year bonds.

The market price of second-hand 10-year bonds has spiked again this morning, returning above 6.4% to 6.428% at 1:45pm.