Turkey sells less than forecast in swap auctions

ISTANBUL, Nov 5 - The Turkish Treasury sold 318.2 million lira of its Aug. 3, 2011 benchmark bonds in a swap auction on Thursday at an average price of 86.123 lira, buying back March 3, 2010 paper, central bank data showed.

According to a survey of seven bankers, the benchmark bond was expected to be priced at 86.19 lira.

The Treasury also sold 473 million lira of Sept. 28, 2016 floating rate notes at an average price of 98.897 lira, buying back Feb. 17, 2010 FRNs.

Nominal bids amounted to 558 million lira for the benchmark and 1.173 billion lira for the FRN.

The total nominal sales of 791.2 million lira, were less than the Reuters poll forecast of 1.25 billion lira.

The two issues are value-dated Nov. 6.

On the secondary market, the benchmark Aug. 3, 2011 bond <0#TRTSYSUM=IS> was trading at 8.90 percent, up from 8.86 percent on Wednesday.