(Repeats story published late on Wednesday)
* Czechs sells 5.95 bln crowns in 8-year floating rate bonds
* Poles sells a total of PLN 2.5 bln in 10-,20- yr bonds
* Polish euro bond issue likely in January
By Dagmara Leszkowicz
WARSAW, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Czech and Polish bond auctions
drew solid demand on Wednesday at yields that undercut interest
paid in a debt sale by euro zone struggler Portugal, underlining
central Europe's relatively buoyant prospects.
Poland sold a combined 2.5 billion zlotys ($843 million) of
10- and 20-year bonds at respective average yields of 6.215
percent and 6.246 percent.
That was some 44-55 basis points higher compared to previous
equivalent tenders last autumn, in part reflecting fallout from
the euro zone debt crisis, but below the 6.716 percent that
Portugal paid around the same time at an auction of 10-year
paper.
The Czechs placed 6.4 billion crowns ($340 million) of a
reopened floating rate notes maturing in October 2016 at 27.21
basis points above the six-month Prague interbank offered rate
(PRIBOR) of 1.55 percent. The previous sale of the paper was as
far back as March 2009.
Bid-to-cover rates on the three auctions ranged from 1.53 to
4.4.
In the Czech Republic, dealers said the auction was in line
with market prices.
"Markets are still under pressure from euro zone peripheral
problems, so foreign demand is probably very muted," a fixed
income dealer said. "It was also quite expensive, so maybe
pricing was the reason for not seeing more demand."
In Poland, a fixed income dealer at ING bank in Warsaw said
he expected yields at the long end of the curve to fall further
after the tender, though planned changes to the country's
pension system could weigh.
Poland plans to overhaul its pension system by shifting some
employee contributions away from private pension funds (OFEs) --
key players on the debt market -- a move some players say may
destabilise share and debt markets. []
GROSS BORROWING
The Czechs plan gross borrowing of 220 billion crowns in
2011, down from 252 billion as they seek to cut the fiscal
deficit to 4.6 percent of GDP from 5.1 percent. []
Poland's borrowing needs are estimated at around 167.5
billion zlotys ($56.51 billion), some 26 billion zlotys less
than the figure planned for last year.
In December the Polish deputy finance minister told Reuters
the country is likely to issue euro-denominated bonds in
January, but needs to be flexible about timing because it could
be a difficult year. []
Both countries have not had problems placing debt so far,
but the euro zone crisis has hit investors' appetite for Central
and Eastern European debt and could hurt demand for issuance
this year, analysts say.
Last year Poland sold 5.25 billion euros of euro-denominated
bonds, $1.5 billion of dollar-denominated bonds and 625 million
in Swiss franc bonds.
For details of tenders please click on []
[]
(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by John
Stonestreet)
