Last checked at 
DUBLIN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Ireland is to test internationalbond markets for the first time since exiting its EU/IMF bailoutwith a new syndicated 10-year bond, the country's debt agencysaid on Monday.
The sale, which traders said was likely within days, will beDublin's first bond issue since March, when it sold 5 billioneuros of 10-year paper.
It will be a test of market confidence in Ireland'srecovering economy and set a benchmark for Greece, Portugal andCyprus, the three euro zone states still under sovereign bailoutprogrammes.
Dublin, which formally exited its EU/IMF bailout on Dec. 15,is already funded into 2015.
But its NTMA debt agency wants to resume regular bondauctions to demonstrate the country had returned to "business asusual" and to insure itself against possible future marketturbulence.
The agency gave no details of the size of the issue, while asource familiar with the transaction said guidance was foraround 3 billion euros.
Ireland's economy, which has shown signs of picking up steam- the jobless rate has fallen to 12.5 percent from a 2012 peakof 15.1 percent, property prices have started to rebound and thegovernment sees GDP growing by 2 percent this year.
Having peaked above 15 percent in 2011, yields on 10-yearIrish bonds have dropped to about 3.4 percent - lower than ratesof just over 3.9 percent for comparable debt from Spain andItaly, neither of which suffered the embarrassment of asovereign bailout.
That suggests market confidence in Ireland's economy isrelatively buoyant, though some investors are concerned aboutits national debt, which at 124 percent of GDP is among thehighest in the EU.
The NTMA said in a statement it had picked Barclays, Citi Bank, Danske Bank, DeutscheBank, Morgan Stanley and Davy Stockbrokers fora new ten-year euro benchmark transaction.
"Given the level of (10-year yield) where we're trading atthe moment, it makes total sense for the NTMA to issue," saidFergal O'Leary of Glas Securities.
The NTMA said the bond would be issued in the near future,with several traders saying it was likely to come in the nextday or two.
That would be slightly earlier than expected, after FinanceMinister Michael Noonan said in December that Ireland would holda sale of 10-year debt in late January or early February.
