Sweden to auction more treasury bills
Sweden’s National Debt Office (Riksgälden) announced on Thursday it would issue up to 150 billion kronor ($22.4 billion) in additional treasury notes to satisfy increased demand for safe investments amid the global financial crisis.
The Debt Office said it had consulted with the country's central bank and had "decided to take a number of certain measures in order to counteract the shortage in the T-bill market that has occurred as [a] consequence of the market turbulence."
Earlier in the day, the agency had suspended its treasury bill trading activities while it worked to assess the market's needs.
In addition to already planned T-bill auctions, the government agency said it would hold several additional auctions at which it would issue a maximum of 150 billion kronor worth of treasury bills.
The first additional auction, during which T-bills worth 25 billion kronor will be issued, is scheduled for Friday at 11am, the debt office said in a statement.
SEB chief analyst Robert Bergquist hailed the move.
"The market has been hunting for alternative investments to pump money into during these uncertain times. The world is so unpredictable that people have wanted to find government bonds and most of all bonds with short maturities," he told Sveriges Radio.
"They are very secure (investments) and that is what we need in these times," he added.
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The Debt Office said it had consulted with the country's central bank and had "decided to take a number of certain measures in order to counteract the shortage in the T-bill market that has occurred as [a] consequence of the market turbulence."
Earlier in the day, the agency had suspended its treasury bill trading activities while it worked to assess the market's needs.
In addition to already planned T-bill auctions, the government agency said it would hold several additional auctions at which it would issue a maximum of 150 billion kronor worth of treasury bills.
The first additional auction, during which T-bills worth 25 billion kronor will be issued, is scheduled for Friday at 11am, the debt office said in a statement.
SEB chief analyst Robert Bergquist hailed the move.
"The market has been hunting for alternative investments to pump money into during these uncertain times. The world is so unpredictable that people have wanted to find government bonds and most of all bonds with short maturities," he told Sveriges Radio.
"They are very secure (investments) and that is what we need in these times," he added.
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