(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-09-21 14:24

China's Ministry of Finance on Friday increased the size of its latest auction of 10-year special bonds to 35.09 billion yuan (US$4.67 billion) from 30 billion yuan due to strong demand, traders said.

The auction yield came in at 4.46 percent, below market expectations between 4.50 and 4.55 percent.

Traders said strong demand came from big Chinese banks and insurers because there was a shortage of bonds for that maturity.

The bonds are part of the ministry's plan to sell 200 billion yuan of special bonds directly to the market by the end of this year, which will fund a new agency that is being set up to invest some of China's foreign exchange reserves abroad.