Greek benchmark bond yield tops 4 pct
The significant deterioration of the mood in international markets on Thursday after the trade threats by Washington, leading investors to reduce their risk exposure, has affected Greek bonds, which again showed how vulnerable they remain to foreign developments. This is despite the fact that Greece will emerge from its bailout program in just 17 days’ time.
Combined with the International Monetary Fund’s Article IV report, this fresh market unrest, which also sent Italian bond prices lower, increased reservations that the market still has toward Greece, and has raised another obstacle to any plans the Greek government might have for a new bond issue in the summer.
The yield of the benchmark 10-year bond rose above 4 percent opn Thursday to 4.089 percent, its highest level since late June. Five-year paper saw its yield rise to 3.193 percent, while that of the seven-year debt climbed to 3.65 percent.
Loukas Papaioannou, an analyst at Fast Finance stockbrokers, comments that the Greek debt’s yield curve has not seen its medium-term picture change, despite the well-advertised end of the bailout program and the upcoming disbursement of the 15-billion-euro tranche.
