BLBG:Treasuries Gain as Europe Ministers Withhold Greek Aid Before Budget Vote
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries (USGG3YR) rose for the first time in four days as European finance ministers withheld a rescue package for Greece pending the nation’s approval of new austerity measures.
Investors sought the relative safety of U.S. debt after Asian stocks fell and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said a parliamentary vote set to begin this weekend amounted to a ballot on euro membership.
U.S. 10-year yields declined two basis points to 2.01 percent as of 1:57 p.m. in Tokyo, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. The 2 percent security maturing in February 2022 rose 6/32, or $1.88 per $1,000 face amount, to 99 7/8.
“We’re not sure what Greece is going to do next,” said Kazuaki Oh’e, a debt salesman in Tokyo at CIBC World Markets Japan Inc., a unit of Canada’s fifth-largest lender. “The bid is coming back” in the Treasury market.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares fell 1.1 percent, set for the biggest decline this year.
Venizelos said his euro-area counterparts refused to approve a 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) aid package for Greece yesterday at an emergency meeting because the government fell short of austerity demands. Another extraordinary assembly of the ministers was set for Feb. 15.
To contact the reporters on this story: Wes Goodman in Singapore at wgoodman@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net
