Financial markets on Thursday kept up pressure on Spain, whose risk premium hit record levels, dpa reported. Spanish 10-year bonds had a yield of 6.7 per cent. The risk premium, which measures the difference between German and Spanish 10-year bonds, stood at 539 basis points, the same level at which it closed on Wednesday. The level is the highest since the creation of the euro. The level at which Spain's borrowing costs would become unsustainable is 600 basis points. The Ibex 35, the main index of the Madrid stock exchange, had however risen by 0.5 per cent half an hour after trading started. The government blames the high risk premium mainly on the possibility that Greece could leave the euro. Analysts, however, attribute it largely to the crisis of Bankia, Spain's fourth-largest bank, which has requested state aid worth 19 billion euros (23.5 billion dollars).
