By William L. Watts
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- The euro EURUSD -0.83% slumped versus the dollar after a German auction of 10-year government bonds, known as bunds, was poorly received. The planned sale of 6 billion euros ($8.1 billion) attracted bids totaling 3.9 billion euros, with the Bundesbank accepting bids totaling 3.64 billion euros. The central bank, which conducts auctions on behalf of the German Finance Agency, retained 2.36 billion euros, bringing the total to the planned 6 billion euros. The auction produced an average yield of 1.98%. Economists at RBC Capital Markets said the bid-to-cover ratio on the accepted portion of the auction at 1.07 was the weakest since 1999. The euro extended a loss versus the dollar to briefly trade below $1.34 and remained down 0.8% at $1.3402 in recent action.
