Portugal's successful 15-year bonds sale comes as little surprise

Portugal's 3.5 billion euros (4.55 billion U.S. dollars) debt sale of 15-year bonds on Wednesday came as little surprise, said analysts.

The debt bonds on Wednesday, which matures on Feb. 15, 2030, was placed by CaixaBI, Credit Agricole, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Nomura. Of the amount, which doubled the forecast by analysts, the United States acquired 32.2 percent and the Britain 29.1 percent.

"There was some astute timing for the Portuguese on their debt issue earlier in the week," Joao Monteiro, Valutrades analyst, told Xinhua on Thursday.

"With the widely acknowledged prospect of a rate cut at the ECB and growing confidence that at least some fringe eurozone nations were seeing their fortunes improve, it's perhaps no surprise we saw this oversubscription," said Joao Monteiro.

Demand for the sale on Wednesday exceeded 8 billion euros, with investor confidence boosted after European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi recently encouraged speculation regarding the launch of an asset-buying program, known as Quantative Easing, to pull the eurozone out of an economic slump.

"This further step was expected following previous bond sales and given the favorable international climate, with historically low interest rates," said Joao Cantiga Esteves, economist of the Lisbon Technical University.

"It is good news for the Portuguese government and reveals credibility on the country's behalf, raising the chances of debt recovery," said the expert.

The debt sale on Wednesday has been regarded as a milestone for Portugal, as although its economic outlook started to improve, the country was recently hit by banking troubles and was forced to bail out its largest private bank, Banco Espirito Santo (BES), which sent yields falling.

Measures taken by the country to solve the crisis of BES also helped the country's credibility and influenced the 15-year debt sale, Cantiga Esteves said.

The auction on Wednesday was the first 15-year debt bonds since the debt-laden country received a 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the ECB in May 2011.

It was also the first time for Portugal to auction the long-term bonds since the debt-ridden country rescued its largest private bank Banco Espirito Santo with 4.9 billion euros last month. And it came after its neighboring country Spain sold 50-year bonds for the first time on Sept. 1.

Portugal auctioned 1 billion euros in short-term bonds in August at lower yields than in previous auctions. Portugal's last long-term sale was in July when the country issued 4.5 billion U.S. dollars and lured strong investor interest.

"On the basis that the ECB can still serve up more stimulus measures, by all accounts Portugal's next bond issue is likely to be just as well received," said Joao Monteiro. (1 euro = 1.30 U.S. dollars)