Investing.com - Italy saw borrowing costs fall to the lowest levels on record at an auction of five-and-ten-year government bonds on Thursday, as investors continued to gauge the health of the euro zone’s third-largest economy.
Italy’s Treasury sold EUR4 billion worth of ten-year debt at an average yield of 3.42%, down from 3.81% at a similar auction last month.
The yield on Italian 10-year bonds stood at 3.496% following the auction, the lowest since January 2006.
Rome also sold EUR3 billion of five-year debt at an average yield of 2.14%, compared to a yield of 2.43% in January.
The euro held on to losses against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD falling 0.23% to trade at 1.3654.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained lower. Italy FTSE MIB Index dropped 1%, the EURO STOXX 50 fell 1.2%, France’s CAC 40 slumped 0.7%, Germany's DAX sank 1.2%, while London’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.8%.