Greece auctions €813m in 6-month bonds

Greece rolled over 812.5 million euros ($885 million) in six-month treasury bonds Wednesday at the same 2.97 percent interest rate it auctioned bonds in July, the Greek Public Debt Management Agency said.

The sale of new bonds to cover maturing titles was an encouraging sign for debt-swamped Greece, which is struggling to reach a new bailout deal with international creditors before August 20, when it must repay some 3.4 billion euros ($3.7 billion) due to the European Central Bank.

The new issue was over-subscribed by bidding buyers by a ratio of 1.3, which helped hold the interest yield to the same 2.97 percent rate that Athens sold 1.6 billion euros of six-month bonds last month.

Against the robust demand, the Public Debt Management Agency said it would allow bidders to "submit non-competitive bids up to 30 percent of the amount initially auctioned until August 6, 2015 (12 p.m local time)" in the hopes of further improving financing conditions for Athens.

Greece has been almost entirely closed out of international medium- and long-term bond markets since its debt crisis exploded in 2010, and has relied on bailouts from the European Union, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund to honour debt payments.

Earlier Wednesday the ECB said it had decided to leave the ceiling of its Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) for Greece's struggling banks unchanged at 90.5 billion euros ($98.7 billion).

Meantime, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Athens had entered "the final stretch to conclude an agreement with the institutions" for the new bailout before the August 20 deadline.