07.40 Stefanos Manos, a former Greek minister, told Bloomberg TV why the debt swap is good for Greece, but maybe not the EU:

Greece faces fewer interest payments. We got a reprieve. Whether it is good for Europe I have my doubts.

While Greek Government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said the result was a “vote of confidence” in Greece’s ability to carry out deep structural reforms to its stricken economy.

I think it’s a historic moment.

07.35 The yield on Italian and Spanish 10-year bonds have dipped after the bond swap as contagion fears recede. The yields are now 4.75pc and 4.98p.

It looks like the debt deal has been priced in.

07.30 Greece may have avoided a messy default but many commentators remain worried about its prospects. Some are sceptical of the assumption used to calculated the benefits for Greek debts from thebond swap. The economy has weakened further since then and youth unemployment is now above 51pc.

Michael Kemmer, general manager of German bank association BdB, told Bloomberg:

We can’t think that Greece is saved and the crisis is over. This is an important step – the private sector showed solidarity. That’s good, but the work has only just begun.

Despite all the justified happiness about this issue we have to note that Greece is only buying time with this and has to do its homework and pursue budget consolidation, savings and its privatisation programme.

07.20 Fears of a CDS payout has triggered selling of the euro. We’ll know more later today:

07.00 Asian markets rose, with Tokyo’s Nikkei rising 1.65pc to close at it highest level in more than seven months on optimism over a Greek debt deal. At one stage it rose above 10,000 mark for the first time since August 1.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0,9pc, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.88pc, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1pc.

Markets on the Continent are expected to extend yeterday’s gains when they open in around a hour’s time. Although financial spread-betters say the FTSE 100 could open around 3-4 points, or 0.1pc, lower, pausing for a breath after strong gains in the previous session as investors seek direction from US jobs data this afternoon.

06.45 The French finance minister says the bond swap is good nes and avoids default risk.

Reuters reports that Francois Baroin told RTL radio:

It’s good news, its a good success. It’s something that allows us to stay on a voluntary basis that avoids the risk of default.

He said he also had confidence in the Spanish government’s ability to resolve its large deficit pile.

06.40 The euro fell against the before the announcement and then picked up:

^{Euro edges higher after the news the 85.8pc of bondholders accepted the bond swap. Graph: Bloomberg}

06.30 Here’s a flavour of how those in the market view the deal:

NG KIAN TECK, SIAS RESEARCH, SINGAPORE

The question now is what will happen to all the credit default swaps in the market. This is what people want to know – is this considered a default, and if it is, who are the winners and losers? We don’t know who the losers are now and they can be quite a substantial amount because the CDS float is not small.”

YUJI SAITO, CREDIT AGRICOLE, TOKYO

The headlines from Greece are within expectations and the market reaction (euro selling) is a classic case of buy the rumour, sell the fact.

SURESH KUMAR RAMANATHAN, CIMB INVESTMENT BANK, KUALA LUMPUR

We have been warning for the past 2 months that Greece will collapse and that collapse is beginning to play out currently. If ISDA sees the activation of CACs as a credit event, then we have an official sign of a default in Greece. For markets, it will be vital to gauge how much of CDS will be triggered following the activation of CACs. We are likely to see some synchronization of equities, cross currency swap basis in EUR/USD and peripheral bonds and CDS all facing a sell off.

06.22 Josef Ackerman, the respected German banker and chairman of the Institute of International Finance, which helped broker the bond swap for private investors, said the debt deal will help contribute to restroring stability in the eurozone, Bloomberg reports. It quotes him saying:

The very strong and positive result provides a major opportunity now for Greece to move ahead with its economic reform program, while strengthening the euro area’s ability to create an economic environment of stability and growth.

The successful completion of the debt exchange will contribute meaningfully to facilitating the official financing for Greece and help Greece to carry out necessary reforms to set the basis for economic recovery. These are important steps towards resolving the Greek debt crisis, addressing the overall fiscal and sovereign debt problems in the euro area, and restoring financial stability, which is essential to foster economic growth and job creation.

06.20 Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, calling the swap an “historic event”, in extending its offer to private creditiors holding bonds not governed by Greek law to March 23, warned:

There will be no further opportunity for creditors holding those instruments to benefit from the package of ESFS notes, co-financing and GDP linked securities, which formed an important and intergral part of our invitations.

06.15 If a credit event is declared it will create even more uncertainty.

06.10 The Greeks may be happy, but its now universal.

06.09 The International Swaps and Derivatives Association will now meet at 1pm today to decide it the use of Collective Action Clauses constitutes a credit event. If it decides whether Greece has officially defaulted CDSs – insurance against default – will be triggered.

Philip Shaw, economist at Investec, says:

The use of the CACs would make it more difficult to argue that this is not a credit event, thereby triggering a CDS payout. However this is not necessarily the catastrophe that many fear. The net exposure to Greek CDSs is relatively small at $3.2bn and one could argue that making sovereign debt insurable after all, could be a positive development.

06.05 The deadline for acceptance of the offer for bonds governed by international law and for state-guaranteed bonds issued by public companies has been extended to March 23.

06.03 Participation in the bond swap will rise to 95.7pc after Greece triggers Collective Action Clauses on those who did not accept to offer, which will forces investors to take loss of as much as 74pc..

06.02 Greece says €172bn of bond were tendered in bond swap. Greece says 69pc of non-Greek bond holders participated and the country says it has received tenders for €152bn under Greek law.

06.00 Breaking …

The Greek government says 85.8pc of bondholders have accepted bond swap offer

05.59 For a bit of background on the Greek debt swap before we get the results it’s worth looking at Louise Armitstead’s story, Greece in last ditch scramble to avoid default.

05.58 Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the eurozone debt crisis. The main story today will be the Greek debt swap, with news expected soon on how many investors willingly agreed to take a haircut before the 8pm deadline last night. We’re expecting preliminary results any minute now, as well as a press conference from Evangelos Venizelos in Athens at 11am GMT.

News Link